Play
by Smart Mark
Summary: Nikki Cross's problem is simple. No one will play with her. Ever since her stablemates in SAnitY went to SmackDown, she's been a very lonely girl. That all changes when a certain Lunatic decides to visit NXT, and discovers her. Dean/Nikki
1. Connection

The NXT roster was full of an interesting mix of different personalities. You had your sociopathic types like Tomasso Ciampa, your destructive behemoths like Lars Sullivan, your fun loving goofballs like Otis and Tucker of Heavy Machinery, and you had your overall decent human beings like Johnny Gargano. However, there was only one girl who fit the bill of total psycho, and that was Nikki Cross. Members of the roster tended to stay away from her out of fear, and back when she and the rest of Sanity were running roughshod over the yellow brand, she liked it that way. She relished in the infamy, and totally embraced the weirded out stares audiences and performers alike would throw her way on a daily basis.

However, that started to change around the time her boys left to go to SmackDown. You see, Nikki, well she was an extremely lonely girl at the moment. Eric, Alexander, and Killian weren't around anymore, leaving her all by herself. Her only companions were elsewhere, and for a while, she was okay with it. But, some time passed, and the loner thing was getting kind of old. She started to long for a friend, or as she put it, "A Playmate."

Nikki wanted someone to play with her. Her search, was largely unsuccessful, and she couldn't quite put her finger on why that was the case. Never did it once cross her mind, (Get it?! Cross?! Cause it's her last name?!), that maybe jumping out of dark corners at the Performance Center and yelling, " Do you wanna play with me?!", at people's faces, wasn't the best way to go about making friends. For Christ's sake, she almost gave Velveteen Dream a heart attack last week. But, to be fair, she didn't know any better. Dakota Kai was at least nice to her, but even she kept her distance.

I mean come on, people skills obviously weren't her strong suit. But, bless her heart, she was trying her best. Unfortunately, it had gotten to the point that she was getting down on herself for being so socially inept. Currently, she was sitting on a crate in the backstage area, hunched over with her head in her hands, pouting like a little girl. Frustration, and sadness were the emotions that plauged her at the moment. She just didn't understand. What was the problem?

"Why won't anyone play with me?" That was a summary of what exactly was going through her mind.

One person saw her in her irritated state, and decided to take it upon themselves to see what was bugging her. Nikki felt someone approaching her, and to her surprise, found that the person was none other than Dean Ambrose. Her face lit up, and she started waving erratically.

"Dean, Dean, Dean! Hi, Dean! What are you doing here?!" She asked with a crazed smile.

Unlike other superstars, Dean wasn't weirded out by her behavior at all. In fact, it made him smirk a little bit.

"Some main roster guys were asked to come down to NXT for a few house shows and maybe a few appearances on NXT television. I volunteered myself, cause it seemed pretty fun. What's the matter with you? Why the long face?"

Nikki's smile went away and she sighed.

"No one around here... wants to play with me. I DON'T KNOW WHY! I'm a good guy now. I cause chaos for the right reasons. I'm... I'm lonely."

All of a sudden, an idea popped into her brain, and the smile returned. She gasped happily.

"Hey, do YOOOU want to play with me?!" She asked, hope evident in her tone of voice.

Dean just shrugged.

"Why not, kid? It's something to do."

Nikki jumped off the crate and into Dean's arms, looking up at him with a smile that would've scared most people away, just like she had done many times with Dain and Wolfe. She tried once with Eric, but he just dropped her immediately. That's when she learned not to bother Eric when he was busy, which seemed to be all the time. Anyway, success! She found a playmate!

"Hehehehe! Oh, happy days, happy days indeed! What do you wanna do first?!" Nikki asked excitedly.

Ambrose again shrugged.

"It's up to you."

Her lips pursed in deep thought, she racked her warped brain, trying to come up with something to do with her newly found acquaintance. Keep in mind, she was still being held by Dean, who had a bored look on his face. Other members of the NXT roster walked past the scene with confused expressions. Ciampa paid them no mind, seeing as he was staring at his NXT Championship while holding it like it was a child. Heavy Machinery quickly scurried away when they saw Nikki. Well, more like Otis did, while Tucker tried to get him to calm down. Shayna Baszler saw the two of them, and snorted. She approached the two with a smug look on her face.

"Well look at what we have here. Two complete psychos together, isn't that great?"

Dean pointed at Shayna.

"Hey! Who you callin' psycho?"

Meanwhile Nikki was waving frantically at her, going, "Hi, Shayna!", over and over again.

Baszler rolled her eyes at the unhinged Scot and spoke to the Raw Superstar.

"What are you doing here anyway, and out of all the people to be around, why this maniac?"

"I got bored, I wanted to come to NXT for a bit, and she seems interesting to me. That's it."

Nikki chimed in.

"And he wants to play with me! You told me no one would, but you were wrong, Shayna! Wrong! Hahahaha! I was right, you were wrong!"

The former NXT Women's Champion mockingly laughed.

"Who cares? You're still a freak who no one likes. He's probably only with you right now because he feels sorry for your pathetic ass."

At these words, Cross was seething. She jumped out of Dean's arms and bowed up to her, fists clenched and fire in her eyes.

"Shut up Shayna!"

"How about you make me shut up in the ring, freak?"

"Fine, deal, deal, deal!"

Shayna smirked.

"Alright. I can't wait to put you to sleep again. See you out there."

And with that, she walked out to the ring. After a few more seconds of angry breathing, Nikki turned to Dean with a bright smile, which again, would freak most people out.

"You wanna come out with me, new friend?" She asked.

Again, Dean shrugged.

"Why not?"

* * *

 **In The Ring...**

Shayna was out there shadowboxing, and preparing to face the crazy Nikki Cross in an impromptu match. The crowd were booing her as usual, and she taunted them back. Then, Nikki's music started up. The audience recently had started to lighten up on her and began cheering her more and more over the last few months, and she couldn't be happier. But, nothing could prepare her for the reaction from the crowd when they saw Dean walking out behind her. She was overwhelmed with joy.

"That's my friend!" She yelled out while pointing at him, before hugging him like crazy. Nikki then ran toward the ring and did the usual, taking off her jacket and slamming it onto the mat. Dean casually made his way to her corner and stood outside watching with his arms crossed. "Let's go Ambrose, Nikki Cross! Let's go Ambrose, Nikki Cross!", is all you heard, since the crowd was so loud. Over the course of the match, things were going back and forth. One moment Nikki was stomping Shayna out, the next, Shayna had Nikki in a submission.

Dean found himself watching intently, hoping for the Scottish Psychopath to come out on top. Sadly, it didn't work out the way. Shayna ended up coming through on her promise to put Nikki to sleep after she wouldn't tap to the choke she had slapped on. But just like last time, Nikki went down with a smile on her face. It was creepy.

Anyway, Shayna left, and Dean entered the ring to check on Cross. She was out cold, so Dean did the only thing he could do. He ended up carrying her to the back. After asking around to find out where the ladies locker room was, he was informed that Nikki never went in there. She had her own little space in the recesses of Full Sail University. Problem was, he had no idea where to go, but lucky for him, she was starting to wake up. She opened her eyes slowly, and when she realized she was in Dean's arms again, she weakly giggled and reached up to play with his beard. Dean chuckled.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty. You mind telling me where your area is, cause I don't know where anything is around here."

Still slightly dazed, Nikki guided him until they were both in her "locker room", which turned out to just to be an old janitor's closet that no one used anymore. It was poorly lit, and stuff was unorganized and all over the place. Chaotic, just the way she liked it. She even managed to bring a mattress in their. Dean laid her down on it, and sat down on the wooden bench next to it.

"Dean?" Nikki started.

"Hm?"

"Shayna wasn't right, was she? Did you only say you'd be my friend because ya felt sorry for me?"

Dean shook his head.

"Nah, you seemed cool is all. And I was right, you are cool."

Nikki smiled.

"You're the best playmate ever."

Dean laughed.

"Damn right I am. You should get some rest. That was a hard fought match you had tonight. I'll leave you to it."

"Wait! Can... Can you stay? At least until I fall asleep?" She asked.

He walked over to her, kneeled down and rubbed her forehead.

"Sure thing, playmate. Sure thing."

He laid down next to her on the mattress, and she grabbed onto him, almost using him as a teddy bear. She pressed her face into his shoulder and softly laughed. Soon after that, they both ended up falling asleep. The Lunatic and The Psychotic Scot, one in the same. They say opposites attract, but at the same time, similar people always manage to work just a bit better.

 **AN: Just a little idea I came up with a few days ago. How the hell is there no Nikki Cross fics on this site? Dude, come on! She's great! Anyway, let me know what you think in the review section. Would you like to see more Dean and Nikki stuff in the future? If you enjoyed, drop a favorite, I'd appreciate it. See you later peeps.**


	2. Let The Good Times Roll

During Dean's short stay in NXT, the relationship between himself and the little powder keg known as Nikki Cross, grew a considerable amount. She would accompany him to the ring for his matches, and vice versa. In the midst of this, Nikki developed a habit of jumping on his back and hugging him from behind. Wherever they went, no matter if they were backstage or out before the fans, Dean would be giving her a piggyback ride. Surprisingly, he didn't really mind it that much. In fact, he welcomed it. It was like he was looking over a child, and knowing him, having an unstable kid was probably in his future anyway.

On his last night down at Full Sail, he fought the NXT Champion, Tomasso Ciampa, in a non title match. Before the match, Dean told her to stay backstage, since this was extremely important, and he didn't want any distractions. Nikki had a tendency to be a little... _much_ , and when you face someone as dangerous as Ciampa, you can't afford to be thrown off your game. Not even for a second. Unfortunately, in the middle of the contest, Velveteen Dream and Adam Cole of Undisputed Era, decided that they wanted to make a name for themselves by jumping Ambrose. Of course, Ciampa joined in, and the Lunatic Fringe was the victim of a 3 on 1 beat down.

Seeing as Dean hadn't been in NXT for that long, he hadn't really formed any alliances with any of the talent besides Nikki, so he was pretty much a sitting duck out there. Oh wait, this is Nikki we're talking about, so it shouldn't be shocking when I tell you that girl ran out with a whole steel chair, and whacked Adam Cole in the back with it. Dream somehow managed to wrangle the chair away from the psycho, and restrain her, but that was only to hurt her even more in the end by making her watch while Tomasso continued his assault on Dean. She tried her hardest to break free, but Dream was way too strong.

By the time Tomasso was finished beating down on Ambrose, Nikki was a crying mess. Dream dropped her and she fell to her knees. She crawled over to Dean's prone body and laid her head on his chest while continuing to cry. Eventually, the refs came flying down the ramp to go help Dean. She didn't want to move away when they asked her to, but she knew it was for his own good. Reluctantly, she left the ring and stood outside as they tended to her dear friend. To her relief, with the help of the refs, he managed to make it to his feet. As soon as that happened, he did the typical Dean thing to do and shook off the help. Slowly, but surely, he limped out of the ring, and toward a very concerned Nikki Cross, who still had some undried tears on her face. He walked passed her and motioned for her to follow him to the back, which she did immediately.

He didn't say a word as he gingerly walked to Nikki's makeshift locker room, which she had been sharing with him for the past few weeks. He was originally going to just change with the NXT boys, but Nikki insisted that he use her room instead. They didn't change together for obvious reasons. Dean wasn't trying to have that conversation with Renee at all. Yet again, he would prefer if she didn't know he was sharing a room with another girl in general. They got there, and Dean collapsed on the mattress, staring at the ceiling, panting heavily. Nikki came to his side and rubbed his face, tears threatening to come back again. While she was extremely concerned, Dean coughed before letting out a pained chuckle.

"Wow, I really got my ass kicked just now didn't I?"

Cross sadly nodded.

"I guess you're never coming back down here again after what happened tonight, huh?"

"Are you kidding me? I owe those three some payback. I'll be back." He proclaimed.

She lit up at that response.

"Oh, yay! I'll see you again someday!" She exclaimed.

Dean reached up and put his hand on her cheek.

"Kid, what do you mean someday? You're coming with me back to Raw."

Nikki was confused by that.

"Huh? I'm coming with you? But, I'm on this roster. I didn't get called up yet."

Dean chuckled.

"Who cares? I've had way too much fun with you to stop now. Come on, the boys are gonna love you." He said, referring to his Shield brethren.

"You really think so?"

"Listen, Cross. If Seth and Roman can handle my crazy ass, then they can definitely get along with you. Now, I'm leaving tomorrow morning. You comin, darlin?"

"Will we... Still be able to play on Raw?"

Ambrose smirked.

"Cross, we'll cause as much chaos as your little heart desires."

Nikki could barely contain her happiness. Dean wasn't leaving her! She still had her playmate! Just thinking of all the things they could do together in the future. She clapped her hands together frantically and giggled.

"Yeaah, Deanie! We're gonna have so much fun!"

"We are, but for now, Deanie needs to rest. I'm tired, and I'm in pain. Can you shut the light?"

Nikki did as she was asked, and just like the first night of this little partnership, she laid at his side, and nuzzled the side of his neck. He then, to her surprise, wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I like playing with you." He whispered, before drifting off to sleep.

Nothing in the world could wipe the smile off of Nikki's face. But, instead of the wild and crazy grin she normally flashed, it was a soft and warm one, complemented by her blushing cheeks.

"I love you, Deanie." She said aloud softly, before going to sleep herself.

* * *

 **Monday Afternoon, Los Angeles, Shield Locker Room...**

"So, uh... Hey." Seth warily greeted his brother's new companion.

Roman just smirked and shook his head.

Nikki was currently on the back of Dean, who had a nonchalant look on his face. She waved crazily at the other members of The Shield.

"Hi, Seth! Hi, Roman! I'm Nikki! Are you guys ready to play?!"

Seth looked over at Dean with a look that said, "What the hell?"

Dean simply shrugged his shoulders.

"She made my time in NXT fun, so I brought her with me. That's pretty much it."

Nikki giggled while playing with Dean's hair, and repeated the same thing she said when Dean told her she was coming with him.

"We're gonna have so much fun!"

 **AN: Felt like writing more with Nikki. Might turn this into a full fledged story. What do you guys think I should do? Let me know.**


	3. Higher Sister

Nikki Cross's introduction to the Raw roster was... interesting to say the least. She freaked out most of the talent backstage, except for Dean, Roman and some of the NXT alumni that were currently on the show like Bobby Roode and No Way Jose. Seth was friggin terrified, which is why his brothers in The Shield thought it would be funny to put him in charge of watching her whenever Dean couldn't. Meaning he was around her more often than not. Literally the first thing she did was try and start a fight with the Authors of Pain, because she didn't forget the feud Sanity had with them back in NXT. And for a second, Seth almost believed she could take them, but he quickly dragged her away before she, and he for that matter, got decimated by those two behemoths.

When it came to the women, not much was different. Alexa Bliss didn't want Nikki within 10 feet of her, Nia Jax wasn't exactly that comfortable around her, The Bellas...well who fuckin cares at this point what they say, and The Riott Squad were resentful toward her because in their mind, she infringed upon their gimmick, brother brother. They felt that she was a threat to their image of the girls who caused all the commotion and discombobulation. They were trouble starters, but they weren't full on psychopaths like the tiny Scotswoman. Of course, the GM wasn't happy, with his dumbass vest. In fact, Corbin was the reason why Nikki had to be under constant supervision. He was all like, I don't want chaos on my show and since Ambrose is the one who brought her here, you three have to make sure she doesn't cause problems and blah blah blah, I'm Baron Corbin and I'm uninteresting as fuck.

Just like in NXT, whenever Dean had a match or came out to the ring to speak his mind on something, Nikki was right there with him. She had also made it a habit of doing the same with the other Shield members. Roman was slightly amused by her presence, while Seth, as we touched on earlier, was generally afraid of what she was going to do next. Within a few weeks, the main roster crowds started to get behind Nikki due to her childlike enthusiasm when it came to just being as insane as friggin possible. They got a laugh out of her antics, for example, sometimes when Seth would celebrate on the ropes after a victory, she would sneak behind him, scream, and that would cause him to fall onto the mat in fear. She would fall back with her arm around her stomach, laughing her little heart out. After a few times though, Seth got pissed, and one night, he freaked out on her, yelling at her, and telling her to quit her nonsense essentially.

Well, that wasn't the best decision. Nikki clenched her fists at her sides at started almost growling at Rollins, who backed away with his hands up going, "Easy girl, easy." It seemed like she was going to try and pummel the Architect, so it surprised everyone, when her bottom lip started quivering and she started sniffing. Then came the waterworks, which the crowd didn't like at all. So, they directed their anger toward Seth and they began booing him mercilessly. He immediately felt guilty and motioned to the crowd as if to say, "I didn't mean it, I swear!" He tried to get her to calm down, but she just continued crying, so much so that it caused Dean to come running through the crowd with a pissed off look on his face.

Ambrose slid into the ring, pushed Seth back and yelled, "Dude, what the hell are you doing?!"

"I didn't think she'd start crying man. I just got annoyed, I'm sorry." He responded, trying to defend himself.

Dean waved him off and then went to tend to Nikki.

"Cross, Cross. You're fine, okay? Seth's not mad at you, I promise. Stop with the tears." He said, trying to comfort her. It wasn't really working, so he told her get out of the ring, followed her, then picked her up bridal style back to the Shield Locker Room. She shoved her face into his chest and continued to weep softly. Meanwhile, Seth was still in the ring watching the two of them with his hands on his hips and a remorseful expression across his features.

Backstage, Dean sat Nikki down on a bench, and continued to try and calm her down. Roman was over on the other side of the room, watching this whole thing go down withcern

"Come on, Nik. It's fine, for real. Seth just got a little hot, I swear."

She wiped her face and sniffled, shakily breathing, before she decided to say something.

"It- It's not just tonight. Seth... Doesn't like me, I don't think."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Every... time I'm around him, he- he backs away and- and he never wants to play. I don't think... he wants me out there... with him. But I d-don't know why. I just want to support my f-friend." She choked out.

"Fuck, Seth? Why are you so damn uptight sometimes?" Roman asked aloud. The big Samoan had a soft spot for her, so seeing her in this state made him a bit angry.

After some time, Seth eventually walked into the Locker Room, bracing himself for whatever verbal abuse he had coming his way. Nikki saw him and put her head down in shame. Dean marched over to him, anger his eyes.

"You done fucked up, Rollins. Apparently she thinks you hate her. Now I don't know what you've been saying to her, and quite frankly, I don't care. All I know is, you made this mess, and you're gonna fix it. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah, I understand. Just... Give me some time alone with her."

Dean nodded, and motioned to Roman to follow him out of the locker room, leaving just Seth and Nikki alone with each other. The former World Champion awkwardly made his way over to where she was sitting, and sat next to her. Nikki didn't look at him, she just stared at the floor, her hair covering her face. Right as he mustered up the courage to say something, she turned to him and asked a question that surprised the hell out of him.

"Why do you hate me?"

"Wait, what? Hate you? I don't hate you. Who told you that?"

"Yeah you do. You never wanna be around me. I didn't mean to be a nuisance. I... just wanted you to be my friend."

Seth was bewildered by her statements.

"What the... Nikki, look. I don't hate you, and I don't mind you being around me. In fact, I like you being with us. You make stuff a lot more fun. It's just that I'm not used being around people like you. Ask Dean. When me and him first met, I was wary around him all the time. I never knew what he was gonna do or when he was gonna do it. Hell, I still don't a lot of the time, but that's my brother for life. And I'm sure in due time, I'll consider you my sister. So, get this I hate you stuff out of your head, alright?"

And to solidify his words with action, he wrapped her up in a hug, pulled away, and wiped the leftover tears from her cheeks.

Nikki's sad expression turned to an extremely jovial one. That good ol crazy grin of hers. Suddenly, she hopped up from her sitting position and ran out of the room screaming, "Seth likes me!", over and over again. All Seth could do was chuckle and shake his head. A few seconds later, Roman walked back in, just seeing Nikki run around the hallways. He looked at Seth and smirked.

"It's like Dean all over again." He remarked.

Seth sighed and laid back on the bench.

"I know, Rome. I know."

 **AN: Chapter 3 is in the books. Get it?! Chapter?! Book?! It's funny! Anyway, basically this is going to be a series of one offs with Nikki being put in different situations along with The Shield, mainly Dean. There will be some continuity, but not a lot. I hope you guys enjoy it. If you have any ideas of what you wanna see, tell me in the review section, or PM me. I'm out, peeps.**


	4. Sierra, Hotel That's It, Hotel

All 3 members of The Shield were currently peacefully asleep in their shared hotel room. It was about 7 in the morning, and they were just coming off a tumultuous Monday night to say the least. Seth and Dean were beat up from participating in a tag team match with Ziggler and McIntyre, which went 25 minutes. Hell of a match, but damn they were hurting. Same thing with Roman, he had an absolute barn burner with Kevin Owens, but he was having his own aches and pains. Sleep came easily to them definitely. That, uh, that changed within a few seconds.

A loud crash alerted the boys immediately, and they each quickly arose from their respective beds. As far as they could tell, the noise came from the living room, so they rushed in ready to defend themselves if need be.

"Who's there?! I'll friggin kill you!" Seth yelled angrily.

"Hehehehe... You guys are in your underwear."

The sound of that voice told the three boys all they needed to know about the situation at hand. They looked a little closer and saw none other than Nikki Cross, on the floor, surrounded by an assortment of pots and pans. Seth covered his crotch in embarrassment.

Roman shook his head and chuckled, Seth groaned, and Dean rushed over to check on his playmate.

"You alright, Nik?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm just fine! Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. I just... I just wanted to make you three breakfast. A gift for you all taking me in!"

"What happened then? How did this all get on the floor?" Roman asked.

"Well... I tried to reach the cabinet, but I'm kinda short if you couldn't tell."

"Oh. Oh... Hahahaha! I love this girl!" Dean exclaimed.

He wrapped her in a hug and ruffled her hair, to which Nikki giggled, showing how much she enjoyed the act.

"Now, let's clean this mess up, huh? If you wanna still make breakfast, Roman'll help you with it. Big man makes a mean pancake."

Roman nodded.

"Damn right I do."

"I'll help with the cleaning. This kitchen is filthy anyway. Fuckin cobwebs in the corner and shit. I swear, people are so gross sometimes." Seth proclaimed.

Dean facepalmed.

"Damn it, dude. Do you have to whine about everything?"

"What? I'm just saying."

An hour later, and all 4 Superstars were sitting on two respective couches, Seth and Roman on one and Dean and Nikki on the other, chowing down on some pancakes and sausage. Seth watched on in disgust as Nikki ravaged what was her on plate with no couth whatsoever, preferring to eat with her hands instead of the utensils given to her. Dean didn't really seem to mind at all, and Roman just ignored it.

"Uh... Nikki?" Seth started.

The unhinged girl looked up with her mouth filled with sausage (I hear you snickering, you goddamn perverts... But I understand. It's funny), with a curious look on the face.

"Hmm?"

"Have you... Kept in contact with your old partners? I'm sure they're thinking about how you didn't rejoin them on SmackDown."

She swallowed (Shut the hell up), before answering.

"Umm, not really. But I did get a note last week from someone saying it was from Alexander."

"Well? What did it say?"

"Something about coming to get their Nikki back I think. I don't really remember though. It's not that serious."

Seth's eyes bugged out of his skull.

"Not serious?! Nikki, Sanity's coming to Raw to try and take you back with them! Do you want to go back with Sanity?"

She held on to Dean with a smile.

"No, not really. I wanna stay with Deanie and you guys."

"Then why wouldn't you say anything to us, so we know what's going on! We don't know when those psychopaths are going to show their faces, and I'd rather have a gameplan than wait to be blindsided. You see how big Killian Dain is?!"

Dean chimed in.

"Look, man. Calm down. We're The Shield, remember? If they want Nik, they're gonna have to go through us, and we all know that's never gonna happen. This little firecracker ain't goin nowhere. Not on my watch."

"Ambrose is right. No need to worry." Roman agreed.

"Oooooh, I'm so happy I have three strong guys like you to protect me! You're the best!"

Her outburst of joy brought a smile to the face of Dean, Seth, and Roman, all appreciating the kind words.

"Now that the serious stuff is over, how about we get back to this food. Cause this shit is great." Dean said.

"Nikki did most of the work. I just mainly made sure she didn't hurt herself or burn anything." Roman informed.

"Which was soooo lame. Burning stuff is fun!"

"Yeah, maybe in the woods, but not in a hotel room shared by 4 people. That's not fun at all."

Cross pouted and folded her arms.

"Come on, don't be like that."

Roman got up and walked over to where she and Dean were sitting. He put his hand on her head and started talking again.

"Tell you what. Next time, I'll let you cook all by yourself. And if you happen to burn anything, then I'll look the other way. As long as it doesn't turn into a full blown fire. Deal?"

She looked up at the Big Samoan with childlike eyes and nodded.

"Okay, papa Roman."

Reigns was a bit weirded out by that response, while Dean and Seth nearly choked on their food because they were laughing so hard.

"Papa Roman? Where did that come from?" He asked.

"You're Roman, and you're like a Papa. Papa Roman." She explained like it was some obvious thing even a blind man could see.

"I... Okay I guess."

"Papa Roman! She said, she said... Oh fuck that's hilarious! Hahahaha!" Dean laughed away.

"Still a better nickname than fuckin Titty Master, Ambrose." Seth said, sneaking in a jab at his friend.

"Hey! That's a badass name. Don't be jealous cause when you were a kid you had your ring name be fucking Taj The Destroyer. Talk about shitty nicknames."

Seth turned bright red in embarrassment.

"I didn't think anyone would remember that."

"Dean never forgets. Ain't that right, Nik?"

"Exactly! Dean knows all! Hehehehe."

"Can we... Can we just finish eating please?" Seth asked, desperate to end the conversation.

Everyone went back to their meal, and had a wonderful time devouring it. Nikki was the first to finish, and she jumped up to go throw her plate in the garbage. She went over to Roman and gave him a big hug he wasn't expecting.

"Thanks for taking care of me, Papa Roman!"

And with that, she borderline skipped back to her room, presumably to get a little more sleep before they had to hit the road again. Roman just sat there in disbelief.

"Man... I already have kids, and now I have a supposed grown child to take care of. This is some weird stuff."

"You're just now realizing that?" Seth asked.

Dean smirked.

"Nah, this is normal. Normal as can be. Maybe you guys are the weirdos."


	5. Finding Nikki

**RAW, TD Garden, Boston**

"Nikki? Come on Nikki. Where are you? Nikki!"

Those, my friends, are the words of one Roman Reigns, who was desperately trying to find Ms. Crazy Face, Nikki Cross, who was currently hiding somewhere backstage. It all started when Nikki out of nowhere, in the middle of a match between Roman and Finn Balor, decided to grab the microphone and yell, "Hide and Seek!" Both Finn and Roman were absolutely stunned by her actions. She was looking at both of them smiling before she waved goodbye and ran away to the back, giggling her little head off while doing so. At this point, both men shrugged and prepared to continue the fight. But, that's when Baron Corbin came out.

"No, nah, uh uh. You are not continuing this match. Roman, I told you and your pals that if you didn't keep Cross under control, there would be serious consequences. Now, go back there, and get her before she burns down the entire locker room!" He demanded.

The crowd booed, while the two performers in the ring were frustrated beyond belief.

"Now, Roman!" Corbin barked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going, shut up." Roman yelled back at his "boss."

He exited the ring, and jogged backstage to find the little bundle of insanity. Finn was still extremely confused about what just happened, so he grabbed his jacket, and left as well. Fast forward to the present, and the Big Samoan was looking under every nook and cranny, and around every corner, but he still couldn't locate exactly where she was. And it was pissing him off.

"Man, come on! Out of all the times to do this, she chose now? Damn it." He vented out loud.

He continued to look and look with no success, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw none other than his opponent from earlier, Finn Balor.

"Any luck?" He asked.

Roman shook his head.

"Nope, none at all. She could be anywhere."

"I'll help ya. She looked at both of us and yelled hide and seek anyway. I might as well, right?"

Reigns smirked.

"I appreciate it. The sooner I find Nikki and take her back to Dean the better. He knows how to handle her better than anyone, and I feel like she needs a talking to about not doing stuff like this again."

Finn laughed.

"A talking to? Alright, Papa Roman, whatever you say."

"What the f- Who told you about that?!"

"No one had to. Nikki's always saying it whenever she's around you. It's kind of adorable."

"Uhh... Forget about that. Anyway, I've looked in the Shield Locker Room, I've checked the regular locker room, and I even checked throughout the more secluded areas of the arena, and I still don't know where she is."

"Well, have ya asked any of the female talent if she's with them?"

"I tried, but the only ones I could find were the Riott Squad... And they were annoying as hell." Roman admitted.

"That's not surprising. Looks like we're gonna be searching for a while. Let's get to it, no?"

"Yeah man. Let's do it."

The search continued, with a little help from Finn, but still it was taking forever. Along the way, Balor straight up asked Roman why they couldn't get Seth and Dean to help them out. Big Man had to explain to him that Dean was spending time with his wife at the moment, while Seth had a big title defense against Kevin Owens coming up soon in the main event of the show. In other words, they were both busy, therefore it was up to him to take care of the crazy girl who saw him as a father figure for some reason.

About 50 minutes later, they were out in the parking lot, when they heard a faint sound of laughter in the air. They both turned around quickly and tried to pin down where exactly where the noise was coming from. Only problem was, as they looked around it became apparent that they were the only ones present in the area.

"I coulda sworn I heard something." Finn proclaimed.

"Me too." Roman seconded.

"Where could she have gone?"

Roman facepalmed.

"Man, I don't know, but I'm scared. Who knows what she's doing right now. She could be playing with fire again, even after I told her ass not to. Or worse, she could've wandered off onto the highway and... Damn it! I just... I just hope she's okay. That's the most important thing. I need to know she's safe."

"Wow, seems like you really care about her." Finn pointed out.

"Yeah... Yeah I do. It's weird, considering I haven't known her for that long. But... I don't know. She's like... I guess..."

"Like the little sister you never had?" Finn finished for him.

Reigns nodded, clarifying he was right.

"I think that's what she's like for Seth and Dean also. Morale's been higher than ever, and it's thanks to her. We love that girl."

"YAAAAAAH!"

Both men were immediately alerted by the loud sound and this time, they knew exactly where it came from... Because "it", was coming straight at them. The subject of the conversation they were having, was running at full speed, specifically toward Roman. The last thing he got to say before what happened next was, "Oh shiiii-"

Nikki jumped onto the Universal Champion, causing him to lose his balance, and fall backwards on the concrete. Luckily he didn't hit his head, but it still wasn't a pleasant feeling. The little spitfire would not let this man go. "Papa Roman!", she kept yelling happily, over and over, while gripping him even tighter. She gave Bayley a run for her money when it came to monster hugs, because Jesus Christ, that girl hugged _hard._ All Finn could do was look on with an amused smirk on his face. Reigns on the other hand, was struggling to breathe.

"Nikki... Nikki... I'm... Get off.. Please." He begged for his life almost.

Sensing his pain, Nikki quickly got off of him, her crazed smile turning to an angry frown.

"You're hurt! Who hurt you?! Was it you?! I'll kill you!"

She then lunged at Balor, who dodged her, and held her to try to restrain her, while she kicked and scream. It was obvious to Finn that Cross didn't realize that the bear hug she gave Roman is the reason why he was hurting, but he decided not to say that, at the risk of making her even more angry. Instead, he opted to give another reason.

"Nikki! Nikki, calm down, lass! He's still sore from the match we had earlier! I didn't attack him!" He exclaimed while still trying to get her to stop trying to gouge out his eyeballs. When she heard him, she slowly stopped kicking and screaming, although her breathing was still heavy. The Irishman turned her around and kneeled while grabbing her shoulders to level with her.

"You understand? I didn't attack him, okay?"

She stared at him intensely for about 20 seconds, before flipping the script in a heartbeat. At this point, a big smile graced her features while she frantically nodded.

"Okay, Finn! Thanks for playing hide and seek with me!"

Finn shook his head and chuckled, while Roman slowly got to his feet. Balor got up from the kneeling position, and started speaking to him. He put his hand on his shoulder.

"You, my friend, have a firecracker on your hands. But, she's fun. Good luck."

And with that, Finn walked back into the arena, leaving Nikki and Roman standing alone in the parking lot. Cross looked up at him, giggling, while the smile was still on full display.

"That was fun! Fun, fun, fun, fun! Wasn't it?!"

Roman had a half a mind to scold her for making him chase her around the entire damn TD Garden, but he didn't want a repeat of what happened with her and Seth, so he decided to just go along with it.

"It sure was, Nikki. Where were you hiding anyway?"

She reached into her pocket and took out some car keys. Reigns was shocked. Those were the keys to the rental car The Shield used to get there tonight.

"I hid in the backseat of the car. It was the perfect hidey-hole! Hehehehehe!"

"What the hell- How- How did you even get the keys?"

She started jingling the keys around while laughing.

"Haha! I took them from Seth's pocket while he wasn't paying attention!"

Roman couldn't help but smirk at that.

"You clever girl."

"Yup, that's me! Hehe! Clever little Nikki! I was gonna stay hidden longer, but I saw you, and I couldn't help myself!" She happily exclaimed.

"Is that so?"

She nodded yes while constantly repeating, "Mmm Hmm, Mmm Hmm."

"Well, thank God you showed yourself, or else I'd probably still be looking for you. Now, let's get back inside, yeah? It's freezing out here."

Nikki looked at him, still uncontrollably giggling.

"Piggyback! Piggyback! Piggyback! Please!"

You think he's gonna say no? He obliged, and bent over so she could hop on his back. She wrapped her arms around his chest, and pressed her face into the nape of his neck.

"Today was great. Thanks, Papa Roman."

At first, he was a little against the use of that name, but after tonight, he's welcomed it a bit more.

"No problem, baby girl. No problem."


	6. Don't Mess With My Nikki

Seth Rollins is known as the Architect for a reason. He's the strategist of The Shield, meaning he comes up with the gameplan for whomever the three of them face. He was the man with a plan.(No Brian Kendrick). However, when it came to watching Nikki Cross, no amount of planning could've prepared for what that entailed. He was about 3 seconds away from buying a big ass cage, and locking it with 7 chains. Even though she'd probably find a way out. He loved the psycho, but he needed a damn break. At times, every thought in his brain told him to yell at her, but he couldn't stand to see her cry. He might beat the crap out of himself if he ever does that again, and God help whoever might be the cause of her sadness or pain. Just ask Curt Hawkins.

One night on Raw, Nikki was wandering around the arena, saying hi to whoever she came across. It's been about 6 months since Dean decided to disregard the tradition of NXT stars being called up, to bring her with him, and most of the talent had gotten used to her antics. She endeared herself to a lot of them. In a short period of time, she'd already formed a little friendship with The B Team mainly because she liked the chant, worn Bobby Roode's robe and yelled Glorious over and over again much to the amusement of Roode himself, hugged the crap out of Bayley multiple times, and she even got Braun Strowman to carry her around on his shoulders. Yeah, most of the roster was cool with the former Sanity member. However, she had yet to meet Mr. Losing Streak himself, Curt Hawkins. She saw him, and yelled hello, which scared Hawkins.

"Jesus, woman! Ah, what do you want?" He asked surprised and annoyed.

Nikki already lost focus when she saw the cane Hawkins usually carries around with him. She was infatuated with the thing.

"Ooh, shiny!"

She went to make a grab for it, but Curt pulled his cane away.

"Oh, no, no. You aren't contaminating my stuff with your crazy. Get away from me, you creep!" He told her off.

Now you see, the old Nikki would've tried to rip Hawkins's frickin head off for insulting her, but nowadays, she was a lot more... I don't wanna say sensitive, but she was a lot nicer. So, it hurt her feelings real bad. Her head dropped in disappointment, and she whimpered slightly before walking away. Finn Balor, who had seen the whole thing go down, figured he'd track down one of the three Shield members and inform them about it. The first one he got ahold of was Seth, and man? Ol' Rollins was frickin pissed.

"Where is he, where is that dirtbag?!" He asked angrily.

"He was standing by the soda machine on the other side of the arena. I don't know if he's still there or not." Finn explained.

"I'm going to the ring and calling that son of a bitch out."

He stormed off and did exactly that. In the ring, he cut a fiery promo on Curt Hawkins, just flaming the everliving shit out of the jobber.

"Hawkins! Get your no wins in over 2 years havin ass the hell out here right now! You hurt my Nikki, and now I hurt you! When I'm through with you, you're gonna wish you were never friggin born! Now, Hawkins!

The aforementioned former tag team champion's music hit, and he came waltzing out with undeserved confidence.

"Ah, I see Mr. Rollins over here is pretty desperate to be made famous, courtesy of the Curt Hawkins Star Factory. Well, Seth? It's time for you... to face the facts!" He smugly said before coming down to the ring, thinking he had this one in the bag.

He didn't. He didn't have this one in the bag. In fact, the bag didn't have anything in it besides a knee to the face and a stomp to the back of the head. Then the bag was tossed into the back of a dumpster truck, never to be seen again. When the match was over and Seth unsurprisingly dismantled Hawkins, he went to the outside, grabbed a chair, and I'm pretty sure you know where this is going. Boom, boom, boom, like he was Kofi Kingston circa 2009, to the back and chest of poor Curt. After that, Seth placed the chair under his face, waited for him to slightly get up, and then curb stomped him straight onto it. Rollins then left the ring and took the microphone.

"That's what happens when you screw with my sister!"

He said that, then stormed backstage through the crowd. He got back to the Shield Locker Room, where Dean and Roman were waiting for him to find out what exactly happened.

"Dude... What did Hawkins even do?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, seriously. You beat that boy into Oblivion." Roman added.

"He... He made Nikki sad. I don't like it when she's sad."

Dean and Roman both nodded.

"That's all I gotta hear. Ya did good, Rollins." Dean said.

"I know I did. Now I gotta go find her and make sure she's alright."

"I'll come with you. You comin big man?"

"Nah, I can't y'all. I gotta prepare for later tonight. Corbin's got me in a triple threat match against McIntyre and Sami Zayn." (I would definitely watch that match by the way.)

"Alright, see ya around then." Seth said before he and Dean left to go find Nikki... again.

Only this time, it wasn't too hard to find her. She was sitting on one of the crates in the hallway, with a sad look on her face. The sight of that broke both of their hearts. Dean was the first one to say something.

"Hey there, darlin. You okay?"

Nikki looked up, saw Dean, and reached her arms out to him. Without words, she was asking for a hug. Ambrose obliged, and walked over to her to do so.

"Deanie? Am I creepy?"

"No Nik, of course not. Curt's just an idiot."

"An idiot that I took care of." Seth added.

"Hmm?" Nikki voiced confused.

"I beat the crap outta that loser. No one hurts you and gets away with it."

At that point, Cross's face lit up.

"You did that... For me?!"

"Of course. This is a family. Don't mess with my family. Now you're apart of it."

"Oooh, Uncle Seth! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She exclaimed before jumping off the crate out of Dean's arms, before jumping on to Seth and peppering his cheeks with kisses.

Dean over here couldn't stop laughing.

"Oh my God that's friggin priceless! Uncle Seth! She called you Uncle Seth! First Papa Roman, now... Hahahaha!"

Seth smirked as he looked down at the crazy Scot in his arms.

"Uncle Seth, huh? I'm okay with that."

"I wouldn't be! You sound like that creepy family member who you keep the children away from! Hahahaha!"

"Shut up, Ambrose!"

 **AN: Yo it sucks what's happening to Roman. My thoughts and prayers go to him and his family. It feels kinda weird writing this considering what happened with Dean and Seth on Monday, but imma keep doing it. See ya in the next chapter.**


	7. Handicapped

**_Dean's Hotel Room, 11:45 PM..._**

You ever just pass out as soon as you even touch your couch or your bed? Like, you spent all day doing something, so you can't wait to just straight up knock out? That was Mr. Dean Ambrose at the moment. This man was not moving at all, almost like he was a corpse. That's how tired this man is. It was his day to watch Nikki, and Jesus was she a handful. Well, week actually. Seth and Roman were on an overseas tour of China, and the only reason Dean didn't go with them, was because of Ms. Cross over here. Corbin was all like, "Oh, no, you're not leaving this girl with my roster by herself." So then Dean was just gonna take her with him, but again, Corbin put the kibosh on that, claiming the tour was for active talent only, and Nikki's technically only been a manager since she arrived on Raw. Total bullshit, if you asked him, but still. He liked being around her anyway. Though, even Dean could admit... She has waaaaay too much energy.

8 in the morning, she's already up. She wants to make waffles, so he gets up and helps her make the waffles. She wants to go out and say hi to Finn for whatever reason, so he takes her down to the lobby of the hotel, where the Raw Superstars were having the breakfast provided by the hotel itself. He had to stop her from nearly killing him, because she was about to pounce on the poor guy, while he had a steaming pot of coffee in his hand. Worst case scenario, one of them were gonna be out for a while due to friggin third degree burns.

Then, later in the day when they got to Raw, which was in Chicago that night, she's like, "Where's Uncle Seth and Papa Roman?", and Dean's gotta explain to her that they were in friggin China right now. Yeah... Nikki... She didn't take that news very well.

"B- But... Why did they leave us here?" She asked, whimpering.

Dean sensed waterworks, so he tried to shut that shit down immediately.

"No, no, no, no, they didn't leave us. Well, I mean they did, but not because they wanted to. It was Baron Corbin. He's being an ass and keeping the both of us here in the States."

Nikki's sadness turned to anger real quick.

"Corbin? Corbin?! Corbin! I'll kill him! He's splitting us apart! I'll kill him! Kill, kill, kill!"

"Oh, is that so?"

Both Ambrose and Cross turned around to see a smug looking Baron Corbin with his arms folded, wearing that STUPID ASS VEST, and that chain that doesn't work with his look at all. Nikki lunged at him, fully intending to rip his face off, and Dean had to physically restrain her.

"What, ugh, Nikki calm down! What do you want, Corbin?" Ambrose asked, while still holding on to the Psychotic Scot.

"Nothing. I'm just making sure you didn't undermine my authority and leave. Good." He explained, still overly cocky.

"Listen, buddy. I'm only here so your dumbass doesn't send Nikki back to NXT. You can take your "authority", and shove it where the sun don't shine."

Baron didn't take too kindly to that insult.

"You know what? For being incredibly disrespectful to your boss... Dean, I'm putting you in a 4 on 1 Handicap match against The Revival and Authors of Pain!"

Nikki froze for a second when she heard that, but then went back to insanely upset. She harshly poked the Interim GM.

"You frickin suck, Corbin! How dare you put Deanie in a match like that! You can't do that!"

Corbin bent down and smirked in her face.

"I absolutely can do that... And I just did."

He walked away while calling back, "Also, your little psycho's banned from ringside. Good luck... Deanie!" Then he started laughing again like the prick he was. Dean was pissed.

"Great, now I gotta go get my ass kicked by two Southern Hicks, and a couple of Foreigner Meatheads led by a Foreign Midget."

Nikki grabbed onto him and hugged him tight while whining into his shirt.

"It's not fair. It's not fair." She kept repeating.

Dean sighed before pushing her back, kneeling, and grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Listen, darlin. Sometimes in life, you gotta just take an ass whooping. I've taken plenty, going all the way back to when I was a kid. This is nothing. I promise, as soon as this is done, me and you will go back to the hotel, and we can sleep next to each other like old times. I'll be fine."

Cross pursed her lips into a pout.

"You promise?"

He kissed her on the forehead.

"I promise."

* * *

Fast forward a couple hours, and it was time for the extremely unfair match made by, Mr. "I Like Mediocre Metal" Baron Corbin. (I really don't like Bring Me The Horizon... Sorry.) Dean came out without Nikki, who was currently sitting in The Shield Locker Room with her eyes glued to the monitor. He had instructed her to stay there until the match was over. The two teams made their entrances afterwards, and right when the ref was about to ring the bell, The Constable's music hit. Out came Corbin with a microphone.

"Hold on, hold on. One more thing I forgot to mention before... This is a No DQ Tornado Tag Match... Meaning The Revival and AOP? They don't have to tag in and out. Ring the bell! Hahahaha!"

Then, Stephanie McMahon's lapdog went back to his office backstage.

Dean threw up his hands while yelling, "You gotta be kidding me!" Right after that, he was instantly ganged up on by his 4 opponents. Straight up, he was getting stomped out. He tried throwing some puncheds and kicks, but the numbers game was too much for him. Revival were two crafty and conniving, and AOP were too massive and powerful for one man to handle. It looked like they had this in the bag... Until this happened.

Halfway into the borderline mugging, Scott Dawson thought it would be a good idea to get out of the ring and grab a chair, as if they needed one in the first place. He slid back in and motioned for AOP to hold Dean up. As Dawson swung the chair, Dean slipped out of their grasp at the last second, and BOOM! Rezar found himself on the canvas looking up at the lights after an accidental chair shot to the face. Akam wasn't okay with that shizz at all. He looked at Dawson with a look of pure rage, while the loudmouth from North Carolina begged for forgiveness. Akam did not forgive him, and proceeded to mow over both Dash and Dawson with a double clothesline.

Rezar eventually made it back to his feet, and picked up Wilder in a powerbomb position, with Akam doing the same to Scott. You know what happened next. Super Collider, and there went The Revival. Led by Drake Maverick, the two behemoths walked to the back, not caring about the match anymore. This left a battered Dean Ambrose, and two limp members of The Revival in the ring by themselves. He crawled over to Dash, tiredly covered him, and there you had it. Dean Ambrose had just won a frickin 4 on 1 clusterfuck.

In the back, Nikki was going crazy with excitement. She couldn't take it anymore, so she burst through the door of the locker room, and began to run all the way to the ring. On her way, she passed by various members of the roster. She came across Finn, who was having a conversation with Bayley. That was interrupted as Nikki came right in between the two and started screaming at the top of her lungs, "Deanie won! Deanie won!", multiple times before continuing her unstable sprint toward her playmate. Finn just looked at Bayley and shrugged.

"She loves him a lot." He nonchalantly stated.

"Deanie won!", was all you heard backstage. It's amazing how someone as small as Nikki Cross, had a voice that could probably carry across the entire arena if she tried hard enough. Everyone knew it was her. Some laughed, some rolled their eyes, and some got the hell outta dodge. And by some, I mean Curt Hawkins. Finally, Nikki was at the top of the ramp, her smile as big as humanly possible, directed completely at the man struggling to get to his feet. The crowd had fun, chanting, "Nikki's Gonna Kill You", at Ambrose, which made him let out a small chuckle.

"YEEAAH!" She yelled as she barreled down the ramp and into the ring. Nikki did to Dean what she had planned to do to Finn earlier in the day and pounced on him, knocking him flat on his back. She wouldn't let go. She didn't care how sweaty and gross he was at the moment. Dean just laid there and accepted it. He stroked the back of her head as she giggled into his chest. The camera panned to an annoyed looking Renee Young over at the commentary desk.

"You're okay! I'm so happy!" Nikki proclaimed after letting him get back up.

He clutched his ribs and smirked.

"Told ya I'd be fine. Now, let's get out of here. I'm exhausted."

"Yes sir!" She agreed.

* * *

Now you see why Dean's so damn exhausted. Luckily, as stated before, he's in a nice comfy mattress, under a blanket. He'd taken a shower, so he felt good and smelled good. Now, he was about 2 minutes away from being completely out cold. As he was drifting away into dreamville, he felt the covers shift a bit, and heard the bed creek a little. All of a sudden, he was looking at the insane eyes of Nikki Cross. She giggled.

"Just like old times. Right, playmate?"

Dean weakly chuckled.

"Yup, just like old times."

He wrapped his arms around her, and she snuggled into his shoulder blade. They fell asleep in each other's arms. Indeed, just like old times.


	8. Artist Always Known As Insane

**The Set Up...**

"Damn it... Nikki! Get out here!"

Seth was in charge of her today, and much like when it was Dean's turn, the poor guy had to be on his Ps and Qs at all times. There's no telling what could or would happen. Like when he was about to leave his Hotel Room for a workout (CrossFit Jesus over here), only to see a giant pool of paint in the middle of the living room floor. Seth pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

" How in the... Dude, paint? Nikki, I said get out here!" He yelled again annoyed.

The door to her room opened, and out came the fun sized lover of chaos. She sensed Seth's unhappy demeanor, so she came out rather cautiously.

"H-Hi Uncle Seth... I'm glad your back." She nervously stated.

Seth wasn't really in the mood for pleasantries right now.

"You wanna explain this?" He asked, pointing to the paint in question.

She twiddled her thumbs as she spoke.

"Well... I... I-"

Her hesitation just annoyed Rollins even more.

"Look, don't lie to me, alright? I'm tired, and I'm sweaty. The last thing I need right now is you lying to me about some friggin paint. Now... What the hell were you doing?"

In response to this, Nikki... Well, Nikki did what you'd expect her to do, or not.

"Hide and seek!" She yelled, and just like that, she bolted back into her room.

Seth facepalmed, and ran after her. The door was closed by the time he got there, so he violently opened it.

"That's it! Nikki, you're- you're... What the heck?"

In front of him stood the Psychotic Scot, with a big smile on her face, holding a sign with her, himself, Dean, and Roman painted on it. It had a big heart at the bottom of it, with, "To my favorite boys in the world", under it. She giggled when she saw his facial expression.

"So... Do you like it?"

Seth walked up to her and gently took the painting. He stared at the thing in disbelief. It wasn't the best looking piece of art in the world, but you could tell she put a lot of thought and effort into it. As he looked, Nikki was gauging how he was going to react to her drawing.

"This... How long did it take you make this?"

"Oh, I spent all night on it!"

"All night? Wait... How did you even get the supplies and stuff? Better yet, when did you get it?" Seth inquired.

"After we got here, I might have... snuck into The Ascension's room and _borrowed_ their face paint."

Normally he'd give her a lecture on how stealing from people is wrong and how you shouldn't take what doesn't belong to you. However, one, is the Ascension and who fuckin cares, and two, he was a little preoccupied with the artwork currently in his possession.

"Come on, Uncle Seth! Tell me what you think!" Nikki excitedly yelled.

Seth's surprised expression turned to one of happiness and appreciation.

"I love it, Nik. Thank you."

He placed the art on the bed behind her and patted the smiling the girl on the head. Nikki was so happy, she was literally shaking. It was only matter of time before she burst.

She jumped on him with a hug while repeating, "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!", over and over again.

Seth chuckled.

"I love you too." He said while still holding her.

As he held her, he noticed the soft yawn that came from her mouth. (As opposed to her nose. Nice one, Mark. Fuckin moron.) He looked at her and saw her tired face.

"You sleepy, Cross?"

"Mmm Hmm." She lazily replied.

Figures, since she stayed up all night drawing. Seth laid her down on the bed, (Not in that way!) took off her shoes, or boots, considering she was still in her gear for some reason, and tucked her in. He didn't want the picture to be ruined so he took it off of the bed and held it.

"Get some rest, alright? I'm gonna go to the gym. I'll be back before ya know it."

Right as he was about to leave the room, Nikki called out to him.

"Wait, Uncle Seth!"

He stopped in his tracks.

"Yeah?"

She patted her own forehead with a tired smile on her face.

"Can you kiss me before I fall asleep?"

That was an odd request for the Architect to receive.

"Huh? Kiss you?"

She nodded.

"Yup! Every time it's time for me to go to bed, Deanie or Papa Roman usually kiss me on the cheek and say goodnight."

Seth just shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh, why not?"

He walked back to her, leaned over, and pecked her on her little cheek. She giggled like a little girl in response.

"The other one?" She asked.

"Uh, okay."

Again, he kissed her, this time on the opposite cheek.

"Thank you, Uncle Seth."

"No, uh... No problem. I'm gonna go now."

"See ya later! I'll miss you."

Nikki then got herself comfortable, and laid on her side, facing in Rollins's direction. She closed her eyes, with a small smile still plastered on her face. Unlike the other times, this smile was a lot more peaceful looking. Seth saw it, and smiled himself. He shook his head, and left her room. Before he walked out the door of the hotel, he made sure to take a photo of what Nikki had made. He had an idea.

"I'm gonna see if I could make something work with this."

* * *

 **A Few Weeks Later...**

"Can I open my eyes now, guys?" Nikki asked.

The boys in The Shield were in the arena for Raw that night, but before any fans were there. Nikki tagged along, of course. She was on Roman's back with her eyes closed, because they had instructed her to do so.

"Hold on, baby girl. Just keep em closed for a little while longer." Roman said.

"Yeah, you wouldn't wanna ruin the surprise, would ya?" Dean asked.

"I like surprises!" She blurted out.

Seth laughed.

"We know you do. Alright, Rome. Put her down. We're here."

Reigns let her down, and guided her in front of all three of them.

"You can open em up now."

You didn't have to tell her twice. Her eyes flew open, and she scanned what was in front of her. Once she realized exactly what it was, her mouth also flew open, in shock.

"Oh... Oh my God! No way, no way, no way, no way!"

"Yes way, darlin. This is a thank you from us. You did a great job." Dean said with a smirk.

They were currently standing in front of the merch stand... (Standing in front of the stand... Goddamnit.) So yeah, they were standing in front of the merch stand, and on full display? The new Shield shirt. And what other image would it have on the front, other than the very artwork Nikki had created weeks prior. Seth had sent the picture he took of it to Roman and Dean and asked if they wanted to run the idea by their gear people. They agreed, and boom. New shirts. Nikki hugged all three of them the hardest she possibly could.

That night, when Dean had a match against Kevin Owens, Nikki accompanied him like normal. They were wearing the new shirts. Cross got even more excited, when she a large amount of fans wearing what she essentially created. She was the creator, no Tyler. Dean won in a hard fought battle against the former Universal Champion, and Nikki was on cloud nine. She grabbed a microphone, and simply said this.

"My Deanie is the best! My Shield is the best! I love them so much! And I love all of you, my gremlins in the crowd! Let us all cause nothing but chaos, chaos, chaos!"

And with that, she jumped on Dean's back and hugged the tired man. Again, he accepted it cause what else was he supposed to do? Renee was at the commentary table, looking even more pissed than last time. Dean saw it, and shrugged.

"Eh, I'll deal with it later." He thought.

Nikki hopped off his back, and frantically ran to the back in search of the other members of the Shield. Dean stood in the ring, watching her go. He picked up the mic that was dropped by Ms. Cross.

"If you guys could just keep buying those shirts, that would be great. God knows it makes her happy, Jesus Christ."

The crowd laughed, and he exited the ring after the Psychotic Scot, in the back of his mind hoping that she didn't break anything or push anyone over by the time he caught up to her.

 **AN: Wow, real life doesn't wanna cooperate with this story at all does it? First the shitty news with Roman, then Dean turns on Seth, and now Nikki's over here debuting on SmackDown with Sanity and shit. Damn it. Oh well, imma keep writing this thing anyway. Peace Bros. See ya in the next chapter.**


	9. Survival

After almost a year of travelling with The Shield and essentially being their mascot, the Psychotic Scot was finally getting her first taste of in ring action since coming up to the main roster. And it was all thanks to Mr. I'm Tall For No Reason, Baron Corbin. You see, Corbin had reached his breaking point when it came to Nikki's shenanigans. He never liked her on, "His Show", to begin with, but it all came to a head when she attacked him with a steel chair the week before. The reason she attacked him was simple. She was tired of how Corbin was treating her boys. In the month prior, The Shield had been put in the most unfair situations possible, and Nikki was sick of it.

Roman had been forced to defend his title in a triple threat match against Braun and Drew, but the catch was, they could only pin him to win the championship. Drew ended up taking the win, and the Universal Championship. Seth was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship after, "Not being able to defend it." That only happened, because Corbin had Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush attack him before his title match with Jinder Mahal. Mahal was awarded the IC belt, much to chagrin of fans everywhere. (BECAUSE JINDER FUCKIN SUCKS!) Finally, Dean was constantly put in handicap matches, just because he wouldn't, "Show the GM the respect he deserves." In other words, he refused to kiss Baron's ass.

Nikki had to watch all of this go down from ringside, and week after week, she got angrier and angrier. The crowd saw her stewing, and decided to chant her name whenever The Shield were getting screwed over, hoping that she eventually would get involved. Well, ask and you shall receive. Last week, Corbin was in the middle of announcing some ridiculous 5 on 1 handicap he was gonna force Dean to partake in, when boom!

Cross came outta nowhere with a chair to his lower back, much like when Elias cracked with him with his guitar. While the interim General Manager was writhing on the stage floor in pain, the little bundle of insanity stood over him with the chair still in her grasp. She started laughing maniacally, and kept on doing so while walking to the back.

Fast forward a week, and Corbin was out in the ring with a mic in his hand to start this particular episode of Raw. As you probably guessed, he wasn't a happy camper.

"I knew it, I knew it! I knew having that little pyscho around on my show was a horrible idea! But because I'm a good guy, and you people like her for some stupid reason, but it's time to put my foot down! You don't run this show, I do! Ambrose, your little freak is outta here!"

Thundering boos reigned upon the Constable, along with chants of, "Nikki! Nikki! Nikki!" This didn't help with his bad mood at all. Just as he was about to tell the crowd to shut up, Dean's music hit, and out came him, along with the girl in the middle of this, Nikki Cross. She held his hand on the way to the ring like a little girl, frightened that she was about to be forced to leave. However, Dean wasn't worried at all. He had a mic of his own in his hand.

"Ah, come on Corbin. One chair shot, and you don't wanna play anymore?" He mockingly asked.

"Go to hell, Ambrose. The one next to you? She's done. Tell her to pack her bags!"

Nikki winced when she heard that.

"Whoa, whoa. You're making a big mistake, man. Don't forget, she's making you money. That shirt SHE designed? Still selling to this day, and it's been like two months since then. At least give her a chance to explain herself."

He handed the microphone to Nikki, and encouraged her to say something.

"Go on, Nik." He said to her, patting her head.

She cleared her throat before speaking.

"I HAAATE YOOOU!" She growled.

"Good! Something we agree on!" Corbin yelled back.

Dean laughed for a little before taking the mic back in order to continue talking.

"Damn, that was funny. But, seriously. You can't just kick her off the show like that."

"I can! And I sure as hell will!" He yelled in Ambrose's face.

That didn't sit too well with Nikki, who lunged out at the interim General Manager, trying to get some hits in on him. Dean held her back , while Corbin was motioning for her to bring it on. In the middle of all this insanity, Alexa Bliss's music hit, and out came the self proclaimed Goddess of the WWE. She had on her signature bitch face, disgusted at what she was witnessing in the ring. She stayed on the stage as she began to talk.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no. This isn't happening right now. Baron, I fully agree with you. You should kick this waste of space off of the show. She's weird, a nuisance, and worst of all, she's disrespectful. I want nothing more than her out of MY Women's division. Accept... Technically she's not even in the damn division, since all she does is followed The Shield around like some sort of misguided puppy. It makes me sick that these morons in the crowd cheer for her. So, if anyone's gonna be the reason for her leaving, it should be me." Alexa proclaimed.

Corbin evily smirked.

"Well then, I guess that's not a bad idea. Cross, tonight, you will be facing Alexa Bliss one on one. And if, no, when you lose, you're off of Monday Night Raw... Forever!"

Now Dean was pissed.

"You know what, Corbin? Screw you, and screw your fake ass GM position. You wanna put me and my brothers through hell, and then whine when you finally get what's coming to you?! That's a public move, from the biggest punk I know! As a matter of fact, I'd like to continue what Nik over here started last week. Getting my hands on you would be amazing for me at this point."

"Oh, you want a piece of me, Ambrose? Fine. Now, it's gonna be a mixed tag match between me and the Goddess, versus you and your wicked witch of the east. And when we absolutely decimate the two of you, you're both outta here!"

Back to the present time, and Alexa and Baron had just made their respective entrances. They both had extremely confident looks on their faces. Like there was no way they could lose this match. The Shield's music blared through the speakers, and the cameras were circling around, trying to pinpoint where they could be. Eventually the three brothers and Nikki were spotted in the crowd. Nikki was on Roman's back like usual, and Seth and Dean were leading the quartet. All four of them had determined looks on their faces. Roman put Nikki down, and Seth gave Dean a fist bump. Seth and Roman then went backstage, leaving Dean and Nikki to handle their business. As the two made their way through the crowd on the way to the ring, it seemed that everyone was going crazy for Nikki specifically. She couldn't help but smile at all the love coming her way. To think that around this time the previous year, she was a loner, with no one to call friend. Now, she had a whole family, consisting of everyone from the boys in The Shield, to Finn Balor, to the fans.

Now, in order to keep that intact, she had to win. That's why from the moment the bell rang, Nikki was more focused than ever before. No games, no joking, no laughing. Just pure determination on her part. Dean and Corbin started the match, trading blows back and forth. All the while, Alexa decided to poke the bear a little by talking trash from her corner.

"This is your last night on Raw, freak! You hear me?! You're done!" She said with an evil smile.

This had Nikki trying very hard to not grab a chair and repeat what she did to Corbin the week before, but this time to Bliss. Finally, when Dean tagged her, Alexa had no choice but to come in and face her. That didn't stop her from continuing the verbal assault she had began in the beginning of the match.

"You are a joke! These people aren't laughing with you, they're laughing at you! You're like a sideshow freak from the circus!"

And then, she reached out and slapped Cross. Satisfied with herself, she taunted to the crowd, thinking she had Nikki emotionally broken. What she didn't know, was inside, the European Psycho, was snapping. Before she knew what was happening, Nikki started pummeling the Goddess with every fiber of her being. All of her strength went into the strikes she threw. Alexa was completely caught off guard to say the least. Dean was impressed with what he saw, and the audience loved it. Alexa didn't even get a punch in. It got to the point where Baron came in to try and stop her, but the second Dean saw him attempt to put his hands on her, he jumped in and started beating the crap out of him. They were out of the ring, leaving Nikki and Alexa by themselves. Bliss was on the mat, and Nikki was stalking over her, getting ready to end it. She slowly picked her up, hit her with the Fisherman Neckbreaker, pinned her, and there you had it.

Dean ran back in the ring and scooped her up in straight happiness.

"Ya did it, Nik! Ya did it!"

While he was still holding her, she had a wide smile on her face. In an impulsive decision, she grabbed Dean by the head, and kissed him on his cheek.

"OOOOH!" The crowd vocalized.

In the midst of all the celebrating and joy, Ambrose didn't seem to notice Renee Young get up from the announcer's table, and storm to the back.


	10. Jealousy Is Retarded

_**Raw, Backstage Hallway, Beginning of the Show...**_

"Deanie, Deanie! What are we gonna do tonight?!"

Nikki and Dean were walking around backstage aimlessly, not much in a hurry to really do anything. Well, at least Dean wasn't. Nikki wanted to cause some chaos, like usual, but Dean? Dean just wanted to chill.

"I don't know, Nik. I'm not scheduled for a match tonight, so I'm not sure. Kinda wanted to take it easy tonight." He answered.

Nikki was not satisfied with that answer at all.

"Aww what? But, we gotta do something. What about Seth and Roman? What are they doing?"

"Oh, they're getting ready for this tag tournament thing. I think the winners get a shot at the title at the next pay per view. They're busy tonight."

She pouted.

"Hmmph. No fair."

Dean took a look at her pouting face and decided he didn't like it, so he went and fixed it.

"Hey, what's with that face? Come on, you don't wanna hang with your playmate?" He asked, feigning disappointment.

"I do... But I wanna purge." She said, still pouting.

Ambrose then started poking her cheeks.

"Come on, gimme a smile. Come on."

She still had a sour look, but you could tell she was fighting a smile from creeping up. Dean noticed it, and pressed on, this time pinching her cheeks.

"Nik, I know you wanna smile. Just give me one big one."

She was losing the fight now, a slight giggle slipping out.

"No, I don't wanna." She stubbornly stated.

Now it was time for Dean to pull out the big guns.

"Oh alright, I'll give up... Nope!" (Callback to one of my older stories)

He reached down and started tickling her sides, causing the unstable girl from Glasgow to laugh uncontrollably.

"No! No, stop! Hahahaha! No fair, no fair! You, hahaha, cheated! Ha, hahahaha!"

After he was done torturing the girl, he lifted her up bridal style, and playfully swung her around. She thoroughly enjoyed it.

"Deanie, you're gonna make me dizzy!" She said while giggling.

"That's the plan, Nik. Punishment for acting like a brat." He joked.

As the two horsed around, a certain blonde female came up behind them.

"Mmmmhmm" She loudly cleared her throat.

Dean, with Nikki still in his arms, turned around to see his wife with her arms folded, not looking too happy.

"Yo, Renee. What's up?" He asked, oblivious to her angry demeanor.

Nikki was also apparently, seeing as she was currently waving at Renee while yelling, "Hi!", over and over again.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Renee asked through clenched teeth.

"Sure, dollface. I'm all ears."

She glanced at the Raven haired psychopath in Dean's arms, which only served to fuel the fire even more.

"...Alone."

"Oh, okay. Nikki, go find Finn. When I'm done with Renee, I'll come to you, alright?"

He put her down, and she hugged him hard.

"Okay, Deanie! Bye!"

Dean rustled her hair before sending her on her way to Balor. Now, his attention was fully Renee's. He waited to see what she wanted to speak to him about.

"Alright, shoot. What's on your mind?"

Renee got straight to the point.

"This thing between you and Cross? Yeah, that's gotta stop. Now."

Ambrose was taken aback by his wife's choice of words.

"Thing? What thing? What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? For the last year, every week, I've had to watch from ringside, as you "Play", with that crazy person. For God's sake, she KISSED you in the middle of the ring last week! And, you give her all this attention and love. When was the last time me and you ever did anything romantic? It's all about her with you!" She ranted.

"Renee, you know the only reason we don't see each other that much is because we're always on the road. If we don't, imagine how Roman feels. He has a wife and kid that he sees even less frequently. Nikki has literally nothing to do with this."

"Ugh, look at this. Look at how much you're defending her. Choosing her over your own wife. How could you?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one's choosing anyone over anybody. I love you, Renee. But, you're trying to control who I can and can't associate myself with. That's something I don't condone at all. Look at you, you're on friggin Total Divas, for Christ's sake. I can't stand like 90 percent of the people on that show, hell one of them tried to get Nikki fired last week, but I'm still not angry at you for being friends with her. You like who you like, and I like who I like. Simple as that." Dean said, standing his ground.

"No, but it's different!" Renee challenged.

"How, woman? How?" (HOW, SWAY?!)

"Because... Because she's a girl! If she was a guy, then I would be fine, but that's a girl that you're always around, always making smile, always touching. Not to mention, one that also has a cute pet name for you. That's not right!"

Dean facepalmed.

"Okay, Renee, first off. Nikki literally calls Roman her dad. Her dad! His wife has zero problem with that. Second off, did you forget where you freakin work? For the most part, there's nothing but a bunch of muscled up, good looking dudes around here. I work with the two of them on a daily basis! And, you sit next to Corey Graves every week, and travel with him consistently. Every time Corey comes out, the first thing you hear is a bunch of females in the crowd, losing their damn minds. You don't see me get all pissy about it. You know why? Because I trust you, Rey. I just wish you trusted me too."

And with that, Dean turned on his heel, (Heh, heel turn), and walked away, leaving behind an unsatisfied Renee Young. She stormed off, upset because she didn't get what she wanted. But, a small part of her knew he was right. Didn't mean that she was going to let this go though. As he was walking through the hall trying to find Nikki, a little voice crept up behind him.

"... Deanie?"

Ambrose stopped in his tracks, turned around, and saw a very timid and nervous looking Nikki Cross standing before hi. She was shifty and uneasy, something obviously bothering her.

"Nik? What the hell are you doing here? Where's Finn?" Dean asked confused.

"I.. I didn't find him. I was hiding behind the crates. I wanted to surprise you when you were done talking but... "

Dean could see where this was going.

"How much did you hear? All of it?"

The Psychotic Scot meekly nodded.

"Am... Am I making things bad? Are you gonna leave me?" She asked, terrified that he would say yes.

The Shield member sighed and placed his hand on her little head.

"No, no you're not. This isn't your fault. Don't worry about it. No way I'm leaving you. I don't even wanna hear you say that again. You understand?"

That response made her happy again.

"I understand! Yay, I still have my playmate!"

She again, hugged him tightly, giggling into his chest. (Or his stomach, probably. She's friggin short, dude)

Dean chuckled.

"And I still have mine."


	11. Are We There Yet?

_**Same Night, End of Raw, Parking Lot...**_

"Alright, get in Nik. Time to go back on the road." Dean told his little Scottish friend.

Dean and Nikki were traveling alone this time without the other members of The Shield. They were a little pissed off at the fact that they came up short in their first round matchup against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, so they preferred to just drive in their own respective rental cars. Nikki sat in the driver's seat at first, just for the sake of goofiness.

"Vroom! Vroom! Skkrrr!" She yelled while turning the steering wheel.

This made Dean laugh.

"Calm down there, Vin. This ain't Fast and the Furious. (This movies suck and you know it.) Get in the passenger side."

The girl giggled before hopping over the next seat. Dean got in, put the keys in the ignition and prepared to pull out of the parking spot. That's until he noticed Nikki staring directly at him with a straight face, which made him a little uneasy.

"Uh... Why are you looking at me like that?"

She didn't say anything, just looked at his waist then back at him. It was then, that Dean understood what was going on. He rolled his eyes.

"Really?"

"Put your seat belt on, Deanie." She told him.

"Since when did you care about safety?"

In response, she kept staring at him. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and did what she wanted.

"There. You happy now?" He asked.

Nikki happily nodded, and Dean was finally able to get the show on the road. As they left, fans were around, trying to get one last look at the people they paid to see that nigbt. Dean waved while he was driving, mainly focused on what was in front of him. Nikki on the other hand, rolled down the window, and held half of her body out while frantically waving at the fans and laughing. They cheered, and some took pictures.

"Yo, Cross. Get your ass back in the car before you hurt yourself." Dean told her amused.

She sat back down, and hugged herself while still laughing.

"How come I have to put my seatbelt on and you get to do that?" He pointed out.

"I'm not the one driving." She countered.

"Touche."

They exited onto the freeway, and began their journey to the nearest airport. Since he hadn't exactly had a day off in the last year and, he was given a week to himself to do whatever he wanted. And what he wanted was to go home. He would've taken Renee with him, but she had to continue working. So, he was bringing the other important girl in his life with him instead. The only thing is, he didn't tell her where they were going.

For all she knew, they were just going to the next town. His plan was to not say anything until they got to the airport. It seemed like the universe agreed with that plan, because around 45 minutes into the drive, Nikki's eyelids started to get a little heavy. Dean saw this and decided to point it out when they got to a stop light.

"Lookin' a little sleepy there, Nik." He said with a smile.

She yawned.

"Yeah... But I gotta stay up, so you're not lonely."

He reached over and rubbed her head.

"I'll be fine. You get some rest. It's okay."

"Hmm... You sure?"

"I'm positive. I need my Nikki all charged up for all the chaos she plans to partake in." He joked.

She giggled.

"Okay. Thank you Deanie... I love you."

"And I love you. Now, sleep woman. Crazy girl needs her night night time."

Nikki did as Dean said, closed her eyes, tilted her head to the side, and went night night. (That saying's just funny to me. Go Night Night, muhfucka!) As Dean continued to drive a smirk started to form on his face when he thought about what her reaction to this would be.

"Man, she's gonna be so frickin happy. I'm a good playmate."

* * *

 _ **Back at Raw, Backstage...**_

The remainder of the talent were packing up the rest of their stuff and preparing to leave as well. Renee Young in particular, had just finished and was about to exit the arena to find Corey Graves, the one she was traveling with. On her way outside, she bumped into self proclaimed Goddess of the WWE, Alexa Bliss. Alexa had a devious smirk on her face, so you know her little conniving ass was up to something. (Like, seriously. Why is it always the short and blonde ones that plot against people in the movies and stuff? If you're short and blonde, write in the review section that you're not evil. Counting both chicks and dudes.) Renee just greeted her like normal, not noticing anything suspicious.

"Hi, Alexa. How are you?" She said with a smile.

"I'm fine. I think the better question is, how are _you_? Rumor is, you and Dean got into a little fight earlier." Alexa pointed out.

The Raw announcer sighed.

"Jeez, word gets out fast around here. Yeah, me and Dean had a little argument about.. That Nikki girl. I told him I didn't want him hanging around her anymore, and he just brushed me off. It's like, he chose her over me. I'm his wife! But... Maybe I am overreacting."

Alexa nodded, pretending to be concerned.

"Oh, poor baby. Well... I guess it's not a good time to tell you... Nevermind."

"What? Tell me what?" Young asked worried.

"I... I kinda overhead Dean talking with Finn Balór about taking Nikki back home with him for his week off."

"... WHAT?!"

"I know, I know. If you ask me, that's not right. He's taking another woman to the home you two share for God's sake." Alexa stated, just stirring the pot even more.

Renee started seething and crying.

"How dare he?! I swear that man has no sensitivity toward my feelings at all!"

Bliss hugged her and patted her on the back.

"It's okay, it's okay... You know, if I were you, I'd wanna get him back."

Young sniffed.

"Get him back? How?"

Little Miss Bliss leaned over and whispered something in her ear. Renee nodded, said thank you, and continued her way out. Alexa stood behind and watched her leave, that same smirk still plastered on her face.

"That'll teach that freak to mess with the Goddess." She said to herself.

Then, she walked away, laughing at what she had just done.

 **AN: Alright, there it is. The first connected storyline in this thing since the intro. Hope you guys are intrigued so far. And I'm serious about the short and blonde thing. I need to know that not all of you are like that! Please! See you in the next chapter. Peace.**


	12. We're Here!

**The Next Day...**

So, as expected, Nikki freaked out when Dean told her what was going down. She nearly jumped through the damn window when they arrived at the airport. Dean was sort of worried about her getting them kicked off the flight itself, because, as he'd come to find out over the last year, it was really hard to keep her under control. And when she was excited? Forget about it. However, he had managed to do just that, by simply explaining to her the consequences they would face if she caused a disturbance on the plane.

Nikki was looking forward to going to her playmate's residence, and she was not looking to do anything that would keep her from doing so. Therefore, she behaved. Fast forward a few hours, and they were in Vegas, safe and sound. Then, a rental car and a few more miles of driving later, and they were finally at Ambrose's home. To say Nikki was amazed would be the understatement of the century. She gasped, eyes as wide as Mark Henry.

"You live here?! It's so... so big."

"Yup, this is my humble abode. You like it?"

"Do I like it? Deanie, I love it!"

Dean felt his chest swell with pride from hearing Nikki complement his home. He'd wrestled for nearly 15 years to get to this point, after all. He knew that having this house was a result of busting his ass for that long. They walked to the front door, Dean took out his keys and unlocked it.

"I'm glad, since this where you're gonna be staying for the next few days. Go ahead, explore a little. Just don't..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, Nikki had already bolted inside, excited as all hell to see what wonders Dean had holed up in his home. Ambrose on the other hand, sighed then chuckled.

"...Break anything." He finished.

As far as Nikki was concerned, she had found herself in a damn wonderland. She was going from room to room, checking every area there was to be checked. The little ball of chaos marveled at the sheer amount of space each one had. She was used to cramped spaces and tight areas with little to no wriggle room whatsoever. Hell, when she was down in NXT back at Full Sail, her frickin locker room was a broken down Janitor's closet. And she thought the hotel rooms she travelled to with The Shield were something special.

Dean let her run wild, not wanting to ruin her fun. He'd sat his suitcase down, and taken a load off on his black leather couch. He stretched, and put his hands behind his head. This week was gonna be relaxation personified. A whole week? Shoot, Dean couldn't remember the last time he had a day off, let alone a week. He was looking forward to this. Not to mention he wouldn't be all by his lonesome since he brought his little insane friend with him. Yeah, things were gonna be alright at least for a little bit.

As he sat and thought, Ambrose felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, and saw it was Roman calling. He answered it, and greeted his brother.

"Wassup, Big Man?"

"Don't wassup Big Man me, you lucky bastard. How come you get a vacation, while me and Seth are stuck here doing house shows in West Bumblefuck, Wisconsin?" Roman questioned jokingly.

"Well, I always was the de facto leader of The Shield. Also, I'm the cute one so... Percs." Ambrose jabbed back.

"Whatever, smartass. But seriously, how are you? Ya made it home, yet?'

"Just got in like 15 minutes ago actually."

"That's good to hear. How's our little firecracker taking to your house?"

"Oh, she's already in love with the place. You should've seen how she reacted when she first saw it. Smiled so hard I wouldn't have been surprised her face was permanently stuck like that. She's in here now, going on an adventure. It's like a friggin jungle gym for her." Dean informed.

Roman chuckled.

"Nice to know she's having a good time over there. It's kind of quiet around here with her gone though. It's weird not having a Scottish girl on my back for half of the day. Me and Seth miss her. And it's not just us either. Balór's bummed out too. Honestly, I can't tell you one person who's glad she's not around."

Dean laughed.

"I can think of one."

"Who?" The former Universal Champion asked.

"Our fearless leader, Baron Corbin."

"Oh. Fuck him anyway. Who cares what he thinks?"

"Definitely not me, that's for damn sure." Dean proclaimed.

"Amen to that. Well, I was just calling to check up on you and Nikki. Speaking of, can you bring her over? I wanna say hi." Roman asked.

"Sure. Yo, Nik! Can you come out for a sec?!" He called.

When she heard him calling, Nikki stopped playing with the drawers in the guest room, and came flying back into the living room.

"Yes, Deanie?" She said, eagerly awaiting whatever he needed her for.

"Hold on Rome, imma put you on speaker."

He did, and out came the big Samoan's deep voice.

"Hey, Nikki. How's it going?"

Cross was so happy to hear from him.

"Hi! Hi, Papa Roman! I miss you!" She exclaimed.

Roman chuckled.

"I miss you too, baby girl. Is Dean taking care of you?"

"Of course! He's the best!"

Roman feigned being hurt by her comments.

"But... But I thought I was the best."

"Oh, no no! You're both the best! You and Deanie! And Uncle Seth too!" She stated, afraid she had hurt her large companion's feelings.

He wasn't offended though, obviously. He laughed.

"Ha, I got you. Don't worry, Cross. I understood what you meant. I'm just messing with you."

Nikki put her hands on her hips and pouted.

"That wasn't very nice."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. You mad at me?"

The pouting immediately ceased, and the smiling once again began.

"No, I'm not mad. I forgive you."

"Good, I'm glad. Well, I gotta go. Me and Seth have to hit the road soon. See you later, baby girl." Roman said to her.

"Bye, Papa Roman! Tell Uncle Seth I said I miss him too!"

Dean chimed in.

"Yeah, bye Papa Roman." He said while giggling like a schoolgirl.

"Oh, shut up, dick."

Roman hung up, leaving Dean and Nikki to talk amongst themselves.

"Your house is so cool! Everything is so big and fancy!" She complemented.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it fancy, but thanks anyway. Now what do you wanna do?"

Nikki let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. They had just finished a trip not too long ago, so it was understandable that she was tired. In fact, Dean was feeling a little beat himself.

"Alright, sleep it is then." Dean said.

With a smile, Nikki responded with, "Okay."

Dean picked her up, and carried her back to the guest room. Then, he took off her shoes, or boots, and tucked her into the bed. He kissed her on the cheek like usual, and then turned around to leave.

"Wait. Deanie, wait." She called out to him.

He turned back around to face her.

"Yeah, Nik?"

"Can I sleep with you in your bed?"

Dean was about to say yes, but then he hesitated. If this was any random hotel room, he would've said alright, but this was different. This was his home, and his bed? Well, that was only meant for two people in his mind. Himself... And his wife. He shook his head.

"Nah, Cross. Sorry, no can do. The wife wouldn't be too happy about that. You understand, right?" He asked.

Nikki's eyes lowered in disappointment.

"Yeah... I understand."

"Thank you. See ya later, Nik. When we wake up, we have a whole week ahead of us to do whatever we want! Isn't that fun?"

"Uh Huh. So fun... I love you."

"Aw, thanks. I love you too, Nik."

And with that, she left. Meanwhile, Nikki snuggled up under the covers and sighed.

"No, Deanie. I _love_ you." She said aloud to herself.

 **AN: Please, please. Don't kill me. I know it's a been a while since the last update, but in my defense, writer's block was in full effect. I couldn't think of anything for weeks. But that was the past. This is now, suckers! Don't forget to review so I know how you feel about the story. Peace!**


	13. Fruity Pebbles Is The Best Cereal

**_Next Morning..._**

Dean slowly stirred in his bed with a smile on his face, due to the fact he was in _his_ bed specifically. It had been way too long. He got up, stretched and yawned, then left the room in search of his little companion. He walked to the guest room, trying his best not to make any loud noises. For all he knew, she could still be sleeping, and he didn't want to disturb her. Dean then slowly opened the door, to see the little ball of chaos, under the covers, softly snoring. Ambrose smirked at seeing the Psychotic Scot in such a peaceful manner. He fully entered the room and sat in the space beside her.

"Look at you, Nik. I'm not gonna lie, seeing you like this is probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen in my life." Dean said out loud.

He couldn't resist, so he ended up caressing her cheek with his thumb and finger. He chuckled while doing this.

"You got some chubby cheeks, kid."

In her sleep, Nikki shifted to where she was now facing him. You could see a slight smile start to form on her face, presumably because of Dean's impromptu cheek massage. A hum of approval escaped her throat as well. Ambrose just sat there, stroking her hair. (Fuckin bars.) After a little bit, Nikki started to wake up herself. Through tired eyes, she saw him over her and softly giggled.

''Hi, Deanie." She said while reaching up to touch his beard.

"Hey, Nikki. Wassup?'

"This bed is soooo comfy."

"Yeah, I know. I bought it for that reason. I got all the most comfortable furniture I could find after I started getting some actual money. I guess it comes from sleeping in my car during my Indy days. It's my reward to myself for making it."

"You deserve it. I think you're one of the hardest workers I know. That's why you're the best, Deanie." She said, the admiration clear in her normally crazed eyes.

Dean patted his chest.

"Ya got me right here with that, Nik. You want some cereal?"

Nikki nodded, then Dean reached under the covers to tickle her stomach. She laughed while trying to grab his arm and make him stop. A few seconds later, and he decided to stop after seeing her face start to turn red like she was about to pop.

"Okay. I got Fruity Pebbles, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Frosted Flakes. Take your pick." He told her.

She thought for a sec before answering.

"Umm, Fruity Pebbles! It sounds funny."

"Alright, let me go grab you a bowl. You could stay in here, I'll bring it to you."

He left her alone once again so he could get her the cereal. Now, knowing Nikki, it wouldn't be surprising to find out that she was got antsy. She wasn't about to stay in that room, so she decided to roam around the house a little more.

There was still some places that little Nikki hadn't explored yet... And that included Dean's bedroom. A little mischievous grin crept up on her face, and she hopped out of the bed. Side note, she was still in her damn gear, besides her boots. Something told her that Ambrose wouldn't exactly want her in his room, so she had to be cautious.

"Hehehehe." She chuckled to herself while snooping around.

His room was by the bathroom, which was across from where Nikki was sleeping, but a few feet to the right. Slowly, the Psychotic Scot opened the door and when it was fully opened, her mouth gaped open in surprise...(Yes, gaped. Get your damn minds outta the gutter.) The master bedroom was frickin huge! She ran in, and started looking. Flat screen TV attached to the wall, check. Giant ass bed, check. It also smelled like Dean, which for Nikki, was a plus. As she looked back at the bed, she couldn't help herself. Nikki took a step back, ran full force, and front flipped onto it. Ol' girl was doing snow angels on the thing, that's how excited she was. Luckily, Dean hadn't made up the bed when he woke up, so she wasn't messing up anything at least.

"Soooo gooood!" She said out loud.

Once again, she was having the time of her life. She sat up after a while, and looked around for something else to discover. Her gaze fell upon the dresser. Curiously, she made her over to the dresser to fully scope it out. On the very top of it, were a few framed photos. The first one was a pic of her 3 favorite boys in those badass masks from WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans. That made her little heart melt. The second one was from when Dean won the WWE Title back in the summer of 2016. It was him on the shoulders of the SmackDown roster, and everyone was smiling ear to ear. Nikki was doing the same thing.

"My Deanie's so cool!" Cross thought to herself.

And then... She got to the last photo. It was Dean in street clothes on vacation... With Renee. They looked like they were on their honeymoon or something. They were holding each other, and staring lovingly into each other's eyes. It looked like they were made for one another, and that... that broke poor Nikki's heart. The smile was replaced by a despondent expression. Suddenly, she wasn't having a good time anymore. Nikki thought back to the night before, with her silent confession of love. That just made her feel even worse. Then, her thoughts travelled back to what she heard Renee say a few days ago.

"I know Dean told me I wasn't making things bad... But... I don't know."

Meanwhile, Ambrose with a bowl of cereal in his hand, was looking for her. He went back to the guest room and found that she wasn't there. That confused him, but when he turned back and saw the door to his room wide open, he automatically knew what was up. He smirked and laughed to himself.

"She was gonna end up sneaking in there eventually." He said.

Dean walked into his room, and already started jokingly reprimanding his little companion, not knowing she was currently in a melancholy mood.

"I leave you alone for 10 minutes, and you're already poking around my personal stuff, huh? Can't say I'm surprised... Nikki what's wrong?"

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, still sadly looking at that picture of him and his wife. Ambrose saw what she had her eye on, and realization started to wash over him. He sighed, placed the bowl onto the dresser, and sat next to her. He wrapped his arm around her tiny frame to try and comfort her. She nuzzled herself into him, welcoming the contact.

"I told you that you weren't causing any problems between me and her." Dean started.

"Yeah, I know. It's just... You shouldn't have brought me here." Nikki genuinely stated.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Renee doesn't like me at all, and now I'm in her house, in her room where she sleeps. She won't like that at all either. She's already mad at you because of me... I'm a homewrecker."

Dean had enough of Nikki's self-deprecation. He grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look into his eyes.

"Nik, I need you to understand what I'm saying. This is the last time I'm going to tell you this. You haven't done a fucking thing wrong. Not one. And I NEVER, want to hear you call yourself a goddamn homewrecker again. That's equivalent to a whore! You're not anything close to that! You understand me?" He asked, clearly ticked off that she would say such a thing.

Nikki meekly nodded, but that wasn't enough for him.

"I wanna hear you say it." Ambrose demanded.

"I... I understand."

Dean then pulled her into a tight hug, not wanting to let go almost. He needed her to get how much he cared for her. She was The Shield's little sister. She was their Nikki, and they'd do anything to ensure her happiness.

"Deanie?" Nikki asked, still wrapped up in Dean's embrace.

"Hmm?"

"The cereal's gettin' soggy."

The mouthpiece of The Shield looked at his dresser and confirmed her inference. He chuckled.

"I guess it did. You still want it?"

The little ball of chaos' gut audibly grumbled, like it was saying for her, "Bitch, I'm hungry."

"I'll take that as a yes."

He got up and retrieved the bowl for her. She dug her face in it, completely devouring it. Within a minute and a half she was done. Dean looked on, weirdly impressed. When she was finished, she let out a cute little burp.

"Thank you." Nikki said grateful for the breakfast.

Dean then thought of a way to really make her happy.

"So, Nik. Now that you've filled your belly... You wanna play?"

The way Cross's eyes lit up, you would've thought she found a friggin pot of gold by a double rainbow or something.

"Play? You wanna play with Nikki?"

Ambrose nodded, and motioned for her to come on. When I tell you that she lunged at him so fast, he barely had any time to react. He snatched her out of the air, and the two of them started to wrestle with each other. They went back and forth, laughing all the way through. Dean had her in a headlock on the floor in his room, but Nikki managed to slither out of it. She mounted him and tried to pin his hands down, but with him being stronger, he flipped over, and now she was the one under him. She tried to get up, but he was too heavy.

"Welp, looks like I win this time, Nik." Dean gloated.

She started giggling.

"I guess so. I always love playing with you, Deanie."

"Same here, same here."

He got up, then picked her up off the floor. She hugged him tightly, returning the favor from earlier. He patted her on the head in response.

"You're something else, kid."

During all this, he didn't notice a text message he got on his phone, from the Architect of The Shield himself, Seth Rollins.

"Dude, we gotta talk. Stuff's going down over here."

 **AN: Hey, I'm back again... It's only been a few days since the last update... Right? My bad guys. Real life kinda sucks sometimes. Speaking of real life, look at Nikki, huh? On the main roster, and I swear to God, if they fuck her up, imma be soooo pissed! Also, another instance of real life not cooperating with me, fuckin Nikki got married to Killian Dain. That caught me so off guard you have no idea. Apparently they've been dating for like 10 and a half years! That's crazy! That's a long time to date someone man. Anyway, bare with me. I'm sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoyed. See you in the next chapter. Peace.**


	14. What Happens In Vegas Ends Up Online

**_Next Morning, 3:20 AM..._**

As established in the past, if you're gonna hang around Nikki, you better have your stamina on point. That girl will wear you out until you literally pass out from exhaustion. Dean could tell you that first hand. The two of them were out and about for hours yesterday. He thought it would be a good idea to take her around town and show her around. They went to his favorite sandwich spot, which soon became Nikki's favorite as well, on account of her ordering and devouring 5 goddamn meatball subs in record time. Every time she finished one, she would beg for another one, like she was fuckin DJ Khaled.

"That girl may be small, but her stomach is a bottomless pit." Dean told the owner of the shop, who was just happy to be making money.

Not to mention, Ambrose had to keep her from wandering off on her own on multiple occasions, including whenever she saw something shiny. She looooved shiny stuff. And not even in like a gold digging skank kind of way. She was just infatuated with it, almost like a cat following a laser. After the 3rd time, Dean got tired of chasing her down, so he took her to the nearest jewelry store, and bought her a necklace.

"Hey man, you got one of those necklaces that have people's names on em?" Dean asked the guy at the counter.

"Yes sir. Take your pick."

Ambrose figured there was bound to be one with Nikki on it, considering it was a common female name to begin with. Sure enough, he found one.

"How much for the one that says Nikki on it?" He asked.

"Oh, you're in luck. That's the last one we have with that name. Let's see... That'll be 150 bucks."

Dean's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"150 bucks?! It's a friggin necklace!"

"It's also a gold necklace, sir."

"Man, can you at least bring the price down to 100?" Dean pleaded.

The store owner shook his head.

"No can do. 150, take it or leave it."

The Lunatic Fringe ran his hand through his hair in frustration. In his head, he was contemplating whether or not all that money was worth it. Then, he turned to Nikki, and suffice to say, the answer was clear. She had this pleading look in her eye, like she really wanted this thing. Dean couldn't stand to just ruin her hope like that, so he ended up forking over the cash.

He sighed and took out his wallet.

"Fine, here's your money. Ridiculous."

Nikki was overjoyed to say the least. She jumped onto him and hugged the poor guy witth all her might.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's so pretty! I love it, I love it!"

That made spending all that money worth it. Just to see Nikki all giddy and happy. Still, he kinda wished that the thing didn't cost so much.

"Alright, turn around so I could put it on you." He told her.

She eagerly span around, giggling althroughout. He wrapped the necklace around her neck, (As opposed to around her ear, Mark. You fuckin moron), and hooked it in the back.

"There ya go, Nik. Let me see how it looks on you."

The Psychotic Scot turned back around to face him, excited to hear what he had to say about her appearance.

"Well? What do ya think? Does Nikki look pretty?" She asked, her trademark smile fully plastered on her face.

"Yeah, I'd say so." Dean replied with a smirk.

"Yay! Deanie thinks I'm pretty!" Cross exclaimed happily.

That meant a lot more to her than she led on. You know, with her falling in love with the guy. Of course, he could never know that. However, him calling her pretty was somewhat of a consolation prize if nothing else.

"Alright, kid. Don't get a big head over it", He joked, "Now, let's get outta here."

Nikki nodded.

"Piggyback?"

Dean chuckled.

"Sure, why not? Hop on."

And so, the little ball of chaos hopped onto his back, and the two buddies headed home. Of course they ran into a few fans on the way, but that didn't bother Dean, and Nikki absolutley loved it. Now, fast forward back to present time and they were both knocked to say the least. It was a long day, but a fun day. And now, they were ending it with some well-needed sleep... At least they were.

RING, RING, RING!

Dean sat straight up out of his bed in surprise. It was his cell phone, which annoyed him to no end.

"Who the hell could that be at this time? Asshole." Ambrose grumbled to himself as he got up to grab his phone off of the dresser. He strained his eyes to see who was calling him at this ungodly hour. It was Seth, which only served to annoy Dean even more. He answered.

"Seth, do you have any idea what time is it? You woke me up, prick."

"Well that's your fault, Ambrose! I've been trying to get ahold of you all friggin day. I texted you this morning, got nothing back. I called you at like 2 in the afternoon, you didn't call me back. I called you again an hour later, still nothing."

Dean sighed.

"My bad man. Just... What's up?"

"I've been trying to warn you about stuff. Word around here is that your ol' lady's not too thrilled about you taking Nikki off on vacation with you.

"Well, I kinda already knew that would happen. But I already told Renee that it wasn't up to her who I can and can't be friends with. I'll deal with that when I return." Dean stated defiantly.

"Yeah, but that's not all. Apparently, she's got Alexa Bliss in her ear, and you know nothing good can come from that."

That alarmed Dean.

"Oh, God. Why's she sticking her nose in this? Damn it. Do you know what she's been saying to her?"

"Nah man sorry. Also, I know you don't use social media at all, but you've been trending on Twitter all day." Seth informed his brother.

"I've been trending? For what?" Dean asked confused.

"Some fans took pictures of you and Nikki together outside and posted them. I saw in one of them you were coming out of a jewelry shop. Dude, were you buying Nikki jewelry?"

"Yeah, I bought her a necklace with her name on it. She kept bugging me about shiny stuff so I got her that. She loved it."

"Oh, that makes sense I guess. But it's almost guaranteed that Renee's seen the photos. I think some of the people tagged her in their posts."

"Well, nothing I can do about it now. Again, I'll deal with it when I get back."

"When's the last time you've talked to her anyway?"

"Uh, like a few hours after I got home. I texted her that I made it home safe, and she just responded with okay. I've tried getting in contact with her a bunch, but she's not answering her phone."

Seth shook his head.

"That doesn't sound too good, brother."

Dean just shrugged his shoulders.

"She's just going through a mood. Every time we argue she won't talk to me for a few days. This is no different."

"You sure?" Seth asked, very skeptical of that statement.

"Yeah, trust me. When am I ever wrong?"

"Uh..."

"Don't answer that. Thanks for the heads up, but I got this."

"Okay, if you say so."

"I do, now Seth? Get the hell off of my phone, so I could go back to sleep. I'm fuckin tired."

"Alright, man. Tell Nikki I miss her."

"I will when she wakes up. See ya."

Dean then hung up the phone, set it back on the dresser, and then climbed back into bed. He easily drifted back into sleep, but in the back of his mind, all he could think about was Renee, and what Alexa was up to.

 **AN: Alexa "Always Up To Something" Bliss over here. And again, I don't mean to generalize a whole group of people, but I'm just saying. From what I've experienced in my short time on Earth, it's usually the short ones that are the most conniving. That's why I don't trust short girls... Nah I'm kidding. Or am I? I'm 6'1 if anyone was wondering. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. See ya in the next one. Peace.**


	15. Hurt

_**Monday, New Jersey, Backstage, 8:02 P.M...**_

The last week of Dean Ambrose's life was the weirdest combination of chaotic and relaxing he had ever experienced in his life. Relaxing in the sense that he didn't have to worry about getting dropped on his back, head and neck over and over again at least for a few days. Chaotic, as in, essentially living with Nikki Cross for a few days. He did have fun throughout though, so it wasn't that big of a deal for him anyway. Now, it was back to work. Time to deal with corrupt General Managers, the many rivals he'd racked up over the course of his tenure in the WWE, and the most challenging of all, his pissed off wife.

"Yeah, I think that might be the toughest part." He thought to himself.

Dean and Nikki had just arrived at the arena, and were now interacting with their fellow Raw roster members. Of course, the first people to greet them were the other two members of The Shield. Nikki did what Nikki does and pounced on both of them, one right after the other.

"Papa Roman! Uncle Seth! I missed you so, so, soooo much! Now we can all play together again! Yay, yay!" The little ball of chaos happily exclaimed.

Roman patted her head and chuckled.

"We're glad you're back, baby girl. It wasn't the same around here without you."

"Rome's right, princess. The atmosphere is just weird with you away. It ain't right." Seth said, adding on to Roman's statement.

Nikki greatly appreciated the love being thrown at her by two of her favorite people in the world, and it showed through the toothy smile she was showcasing at the moment. On the other hand, Dean was a bit peeved at the lack of love being thrown at him.

"Hey, what about me, guys? I was gone too. What gives?"

"Oh you? Yeah, we didn't miss you at all." Roman joked.

"Woooow, after all we've been through." He responded hurt.

Seth started to laugh.

"Dude chill out. We're just messing with you. Of course we missed you, stupid."

"Oh... Yeah, I knew that. I was just going along with the joke."

Roman rolled his eyes.

"Sure ya did, Dean. Sure ya did."

"What? I did know it, I did. Right Nikki?"

"Yup! Dean knows everything!" Cross loyally proclaimed.

Seth shook his head.

"You naive girl. Anyways, if you excuse me, I have a match against Elias I need to get to. Wish me luck."

Nikki embraced The Architect.

"Good luck, Uncle Seth!"

Rollins then hugged her back, and then made his way over to gorilla to make his entrance. That just left Nikki, Dean, and Roman. At this point, Roman decided to bring up the elephant in the room.

"So... What are you gonna do about... You know."

Dean shrugged.

"It'll be fine, don't sweat it. She's my wife, and a grown woman. She may be a bit jealous now, but she'll get over it. I know Renee, and Renee's not a petty person like that."

All of a sudden, another voice cut into their conversation.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to make their triumphant return."

Ambrose groaned.

"Speaking of people being petty, hey Corbin."

The Interim General Manager had a smug look on his face. Nikki just wanted to hit him _in_ the face. She was almost growling at the man. Roman noticed this, and wrapped his arm around her to restrain her. Meanwhile, Dean and Baron were trading words.

"Ha, ha, ha. Such a comedian."

"I know, I'm hilarious. Now, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to welcome you back... And let you know about your match tonight. The Authors of Pain have been looking for some competition, so I feel like you and your buddy Roman over here will suffice. It's later tonight."

Then, he bent over to be eye level with Nikki, who was practically seething at this point.

"And you, ya little nightmare. Alexa Bliss wants revenge from the last time you guys faced off. I'm looking forward to see you lose."

"Good! Nikki gets to play!" She said happily, and defiantly in the face of Corbin.

Baron then walked away while saying, "What a freak", to himself.

Roman patted Dean on the back.

"Well, looks like we have a match to get ready for. I'll see you later tonight, brother. I'm gonna go get ready."

"What? You don't think I wanna talk strategy with you?"

Roman just stared at Ambrose.

"I know what your strategy is already. Run blindly into whatever danger comes your way, and punch anything that moves."

Dean was about to defend himself, but then he thought about it for a second.

"Actually... Yeah, you're right."

"I know. See ya Nikki."

"Bye Papa Roman! You and Deanie are gonna destroy them!"

"You know it, sweetheart."

Roman left, and once again, it was back to just Dean and Nikki.

"You wanna go say hi to the rest of the roster? I bet they all miss you too." Ambrose suggested.

Nikki nodded frantically while saying, "Uh huh, uh huh", over and over again.

"Okay then. Let's go. In fact, I think I see your friend Finn standing by the wall over there. He definitely missed you."

"FIIIINN!" She yelled, while running full speed at him.

Dean laughed when he saw Finn's face. Poor guy barely had time to figure out what the hell was coming at him before she jumped on him and knocked him to the ground with so much force, you would've thought she was fuckin Nia Jax. She mounted the surprised Irish superstar.

"Hi, Finn! I missed you! Did ya miss me?!"

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, Lass. I missed you. We all did. Now... Your knee is in my side. It hurts. Please, please... Get off."

Nikki gasped and hopped off.

"Sorry Finn. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Clutching his stomach and coughing, Balòr slowly got up. In an effort to get her to not worry, he put on a small smile.

"It's okay Nikki. I'm fine, I'm fine."

Finn saw Dean laughing from afar, and flipped him off. In response, Dean blew him a kiss.

"You're welcome!" He yelled at Balòr.

* * *

As the night went on, Seth beat Elias in a solid 10 minute match, and The Shield handily defeated The Revival in about half that time. Now, it was down to Nikki vs Alexa in the main event. Nikki came out to a thunderous ovation, and she ate it all up. The people were so happy to see their favorite crazy chick in action again. She ran out there, doing what she always does. That poor jacket takes so much abuse every time.

"Nikki! Nikki! Nikki!", went the crowd. Renee was shown on camera, looking less than amused to say the least.

"Hey, look Renee. It's your favorite one." Corey Graves quipped on commentary.

"Shut up, Graves." She coldly responded.

"Remember, Renee. Your job is to be unbiased." Cole reminded her.

"I know how to do my job, Cole. I don't think I need you to tell me that."

Alexa came out with a microphone in hand, her signature smirk plastered on her face. Nikki was waving at her from the ring. Remaining at the top of the stage, Little Miss Bliss started to speak.

"Oh, Nikki, Nikki, Nikki. You may have all these sheep in the crowd fooled, but not me. I know your game. You act like you're out of your mind, but in reality, you're just a manipulative homewrecker. You saw Dean when he went down to NXT, and thought he'd be the perfect way for you to get to the main roster. Since then, you've done nothing but leach off of The Shield's success. Now, you're trying to get in between a marriage? You truly are a despicable human being. But, fear not WWE Universe. Alexa Bliss will see that _justice..._ is served."

CRACK!

The crowd was shocked silent. You could hear a pin drop in that arena. Nikki was down, and grasping at her back in pain. And standing over her with a chair in hand... was Renee Young. She was staring at her victim with such intense hatred, if looks could kill? Nikki Cross would currently be deceased. However, Young wasn't done. Shot after shot to the back, Renee was relentless. The audience started to angrily boo her, and she responded with a sadistic smile. A few seconds later, and a group of refs and road agents rushed down to the ring to stop the uncaring onslaught of jealousy. Alexa Bliss was still standing at the top of the ramp with that same smirk on her face, enjoying her handy work. At that moment, Dean Ambrose sprinted past her to get to the ring himself. He slid in and immediatley started checking on Nikki. Renee had already left the ring at this point, and was making her way up to join the little puppet master at the top.

"What the hell are you doing, huh?! What is this?! Why?! Answer me!" He yelled at his wife.

She had his back to him, not even acknowledging his existence. She stormed her way to the back, flanked by Little Miss Bliss, who mockingly waved at Nikki Cross's prone body. Meanwhile, Dean was busy tending to Nikki, desperate to help her.

"Nik! Oh my god. Look, you're gonna be okay. You're fine, you're fine." He said, moreso to comfort himself. He couldn't bear to see his little friend like this.

Nikki, with tears in her eyes, looked up at him and reached up to grab ahold of him.

"Deanie... It-It hurts. I don't want it to hurt anymore. Please... Make it go away. Please."

"We're gonna... We're gonna get you help, I swear."

The EMTs soon arrived almost on cue, and prepared to load poor Nikki onto a stretcher. She was strapped to it, and then carried away backstage, Dean following close behind. By the time they had gotten to the ambulance, a gang of superstars, including Seth, Roman, Finn, and Bayley had joined Dean in tending to her. When the vehicle drove off, Dean had his hands on his head, pacing back and forth.

"It's okay, Dean. Our Nikki will be okay." Seth said in an attempt to calm his brother down.

"NO! No. This... This is all my fault."

And with that, he walked away. He needed space from everyone for a while. He needed time to think.

 **AN: So, uh. How about that Rumble show, huh? I say Rollins and Becky were the right choices to win honestly. When Nia Jax got RKOd, I died laughing, I'm not gonna lie. Gender equality, booooy!** **But nah, in all seriousness, I would've rathered her not being in the match at all. I guess I'm a little biased since I've never really liked Jax in the first place, but hey. For what it was, it was executed well. Wish she didn't eliminate Mustafa Ali, though. What are you guy's opinions on the whole thing? I'm curious. Let me know in the review section. Peace. See ya in the next chapter.**


	16. Foul Mood

_**Next Monday, Raw, Orlando, 8:01 P.M...**_

Dean Ambrose was not a happy camper to say the least. From the moment he walked into the arena, everyone on the roster knew it was probably in their best interest to not try and interact with the man. Like, stay far away from him. Even Rollins and Reigns were hesitant to even speak to him. Over the last week, he'd no-showed all the live events that were scheduled. People tried calling him, but he'd shut his phone off seemingly. Either that, or he destroyed the thing in a fit of rage. (Which one do you think he did... It's Dean for Christ's sake.) Instead of going to The Shield Locker Room like normal, he went somewhere different. He headed straight for gorilla, on the way grabbing a microphone roughly from a poor intern, and made a B-Line toward the ring. No music, no titantron, just a pissed off Lunatic Fringe. The crowd cheered at seeing him storm out there. The commentators looked pretty awkward. Conspicuous by her absence was Renee Young, because of course she didn't show up this week. Graves and Cole didn't know if she'd ever be back honestly. Dean looked in the direction of the announce table, which seemed to piss him off even more. He entered the ring, and paced back and forth before finally spitting his venom into the microphone.

"Alright, alright. Let's cut straight to the chase. This is a bunch of garbage! You all saw what happened last week, so you know that I'm about 5 seconds away from ripping someone's friggin head off! I want answers, and since my _lovely_ wife was too much of a coward to come here apparently, let's get the next best thing. Alexa Bliss, get your midget ass out here right now, before I go back there and do something I WON'T regret! Now!"

This man was seething waiting for Little Miss Bliss. 30 seconds go by, still nothing. Every passing moment the self-proclaimed Goddess was not coming out, the rage inside Ambrose just kept on building and building.

"You know what?! I'm done waiting! Little bitch, I'm gonna find you myself!" Dean angrily stated.

Just as he was about to exit the ropes, music hit. However, it wasn't Alexa's. It was none other than everyone's _favorite_ Interim GM, (Fuckin Sucks! That whole shit sucked! Thank God it's over in real life!), Baron Corbin. He came out with a smug look on his face, sarcastically shaking his head disapprovingly like a parent who caught their kid stealing or some shit like that.

"Dean, Dean, Dean. I'm surprised at you. Threatening a woman? Now I know your mother raised you better than that, come on. In fact, I'm disgusted. Absolutley appalling man."

Ambrose was in no mood for Corbin's shenanigans tonight.

"Corbin, are you an idiot?! I didn't call out bald man dressed as a bass guitarist from a failed metal band who had to get a job as a waiter at some run down Olive Garden. I called out Alexa Bliss! Last time I checked, you're not a chick... Well, you don't have any balls to speak of, so there's the first step I guess if you plan on switching sides."

Yeah... Baron wasn't... Wasn't really a fan of his manhood being attacked like that. He was greatly offended.

"Oh, you got jokes, huh?! How about we see how much of a man I am, when I come down there and kick your ass worse than your wife did to that sideshow freak last week!"

That jab at Nikki set Ambrose off.

"Or how about I just come to you instead!"

He left the ring and was about to run full speed at this dude and beat him to a pulp, but then, guess who finally decided to show up? Bliss's music hit, and she came out, smirking her little evil ass off. (Short blondes, damn it!) She mockingly waved at Dean, who was standing at the bottom of the stage, visibly shaking in anger.

"Awww. Are you okay? Did I make Deanie upset? I'm so, so, sorry."

She then started laughing like a conniving witch. Dean reached back into ring the grab the mic he had thrown.

"Cut the crap, skank! What the hell did you do?! Like I said before, I want answers! My damn little sister is in the hospital in a whole different state right now! Tell me now, what did you tell Renee?!"

"Okay, first of all? Watch who you're calling a skank. I am the Goddess of the WWE. You don't talk to me like that. Second, all I did was open up Renee's eyes to what you and these morons in the crowd were hopelessly oblivious to. Nikki Cross is a manipulator. The whole endearing psycho act is just that, an act. She's just using you all. And to be honest, I could respect that. I'm all for taking advantage of the simple minded to get ahead. Her mistake though, was when she crossed me. She had the audacity to embarass me in that tag match a few weeks ago. This was all about getting revenge on her. You just happened to get caught in the crossfire. No hard feelings. This is your fault though. I wouldn't have been able to put that attack into motion if it wasn't for you being a failure of a husband."

Ambrose's eye started twitching.

"You listen to me, and you listen good. I WILL get my revenge. You WILL pay for this. You hurt my Nikki! That girl has brought more joy to me, and my brothers than almost anything else in this world. Now, my wife? I don't know what the hell's going on with her right now, and frankly, I'm pissed at her beyond belief. But make no bones about it, I love her more than life itself. And you. You aren't gonna take either her or Nikki away from me!"

That passionate statement from Dean elicited an extremely positive reaction from the crowd. They were all behind him, and against the combo of the insufferable GM and the egotistical snake known as Alexa Bliss.

"Hold on, hold on. Ambrose, that was a real good speech. Ya really pulled on the ol' heart strings, but regardless... You just threatened a woman on my show, twice. That's gonna cause so much bad publicity. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to suspend you... Indefinitely." Corbin happily proclaimed.

Boos fuckin rained down upon Corbin for doing that, and he loved every second of it.

"Thank you, Mr. Corbin. You're such a great General Manager." Alexa told him, while looking directly at Dean.

The Lunatic Fringe once again dropped the mic, and started shoving his hands through his hair in exasperation. This was just not his night. At that moment, however, something happened. Something... crazy. All you heard was laughter throughout the arena. Somewhat unsettling laughter to be exact. Then, once the titantron came to life, so did the crowd. On the giant screen, was none other than Nikki Cross laying in a hospital bed. She was the one laughing and smiling, just like she was always did. Dean saw her, and his face lit up. He was happy to see her after what transpired the previous week. Bliss and Baron were visibly annoyed.

"Deanie! Don't... Hahahaha! Don't worry! Nikki is gonna be juuuuust fine! Hehehehe! Remember... Nikki's made a lot... A lot of friends! Hehehehehe! Bye, bye!"

Just as fast as she appeared, she was gone. This is when the, uh, friends come in. The Shield intro came on and out came Rollins and Reigns through the crowd. Little Miss Bliss and the Lone Wolf were about to just turn around and head backstage... until Finn Balor's music hit. Low and behold, right behind the two of them were Finn and Bayley, and boy they didn't look happy at all. Finn punched Corbin right in the mouth, as did Bayley to Alexa. Seth and Roman were still in the crowd, happily watching all of this go down. As Finn continued beating the crap out of Baron, and Bayley destroyed Alexa, Dean left the scene to go join his brothers in the crowd. He made it up there, and all three of them shared a satisfied smile. Before Bayley and Balór could do anymore damage, Corbin and Bliss both scrambled away to the back. The Shield looked at their two allies approvingly and stuck their fists out, almost saluting them. They did the same back. Finally, the three of them turned around to leave.

"So, now what?" Seth asked as they walked.

"I say we pay our little Nikki a visit at the hospital." Roman said.

"I mean I'm suspended now, so sure. I've got some time on my hands. Nikki, your boys are coming back to you." Dean proclaimed.


	17. Innocence Is Gone

_**Next**_ _ **Day, New Jersey, 11:40 AM...**_

Nikki didn't really like being in the hospital. She didn't like being confined to a bed all day, and she didn't like the atmosphere. It was boring and dull to her. All she wanted was to be back with her boys, and the rest of her friends. Her least favorite person in the world right now was of course, Renee Young. It was her fault she was stuck here.

But... what Alexa Bliss had said before the assault really did affect the little bundle of chaos. Moments before that steel chair smacked her in the spine, a single tear threatened to escape her right eye. You see, Nikki hasn't really grasped the concept of people being mean just to be mean. Yes, she at one point was more villainous when it came to her chaotic tendencies. However, she never had any personal vendettas. It was all in the name of mindless pandemonium. You saw how she reacted when Seth flipped out on her back when Dean had first brought her up to the main roster. Or how she reacted when Curt Hawkins insulted her. She had never actually hated anyone before she met Baron Corbin. Nikki saw every opponent or rival as an honarary playmate. That's why she waves happily at every person she faces when they're in the middle of making their entrance.

In a way, she was a naive child trapped in a psychopath's body. Now, Alexa Bliss and Renee Young had taken that childlike wonder towards life and people, and crushed it. The worst part was, Nikki for the life of her couldn't figure out why. Dean told her she wasn't causing any problems between him and his wife, multiple times in fact. He even scolded her for even suggesting that she was. So, if that was true, then why did Renee do what she did? Nikki was so confused. Those were the thoughts that swam through the warped mind of the Twisted Sister. That... And how much she wanted to get out of the frickin hospital. For her, it was torture.

Although, it could've been worse. The doctors and nurses almost had her transferred to a psychiatric asylum at first, due to the fit she threw when she had originally regained conciousness the day after suffering that vicious attack. She had woken up, and immediately started calling out for Dean. She needed her Deanie around. She was in an area unfamiliar to her and she was scared. And when Nikki Cross gets scared... She gets dangerous. After about 5 minutes of hollering and yelling, a doctor had worriedly rushed in to see what the problem was.

"Ms. Cross, you're awake, thank goodness. What seems to be the matter?" The man asked.

"I. Want. My. Deanie! Where is he?!"

Since the MD had no knowledge of the WWE or anything related to wrestling, he obviously had absolutley no idea what or who the hell she was talking about.

"Excuse me? Pardon me, ma'am but... Who's Deanie?"

"He's my playmate! I need him here! Not you! Now where is he?! Tell me!" She barked.

"Ms. Cross, I don't know where he is, I'm sorry. But you need to calm down. You've got broken ribs and a dislocated elbow. Please just lay back down and relax." The professional pleaded with her.

Yeah... She didn't, uh... She didn't calm down at all. Instead, she started screaming even more, and jumped out of the hospital bed, adrenaline blocking out the pain, and ran toward the poor guy to attack him. Doc got the hell outta dodge, and Nikki chased him althroughout the medical facility.

"Nurse! Security! Somebody! Heeelp!" He yelled while running for his life.

So, 3 burly security guards and a crapload of anesthesia later, and Nikki was successfully subdued. When she woke up a few hours later, the doctor had been brought up to speed on who Nikki was and what she did. Which, prompted him to immediately call for her to be sent to the loony bin. But, his mind was changed when he was told about the relationship between her and Dean. He still believed that she should recieve some sort of medical treatment, but now he was a lot more understanding. That's what led to what happened the night before.

The hospital contacted the WWE HQ in Stamford to update them on the medical condition of Cross, and in that call, asked if she could announce her progress on Monday Night's show. Vince, always looking for a way to get people talking, gave the okay when notified about the request the day before the show. WWE sent a camera crew over to Jersey on Monday afternoon, and voila. That's how we got the Nikki surprise at the end of Raw. The Psychotic Scot looked at the mess she had caused on the TV her room had and smiled with glee.

Still though, she missed her boys a lot, as mentioned in the beginning. It was nice to see them again through a screen, and Dean's overjoyed expression made her all warm and fuzzy inside, but nothing would make her happier than seeing them all again in person. Well...

"Ms. Cross? How are you today?" The doctor asked as he walked into the room.

"I'm alright, doc. Thank you for last night. Doing that was so much fun!" Nikki proclaimed thankfully.

"My job is to help my patients. No need to thank me. Good news by the way. You've recovered enough to be released today. No more hospital."

Nikki's eyes lit up.

"Really?! I can leave!"

"Yup."

"Yaaay! Wait though... How would I leave? I don't have any money for a plane ticket. I've been stuck here for a week." She pointed out.

"Oh, don't worry about that. People are already here to pick you up."

"Huh? Who?"

"Who else would it be, Nik?" Another voice said.

A voice that Nikki, recognized as soon as she heard it. Her eyes went wide, and she gasped in shock. The doctor smiled and stepped aside.

"Gentleman, please enter."

In walked none other but the three members of The Shield, all smirking.

"Hey, baby girl. How you feelin'?" Roman smoothly asked.

"I'm amazing, now that you're here Papa Roman!" She ecstacially responded.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at that.

"You're her father?"

Roman chuckled.

"Nah man. It's just something she calls me. I just go with it." He explained.

"Okay, that makes way more sense."

Dean walked up to the side of the hospital bed and rubbed the Scottish girl's head. She giggled in response.

"Ya did good last night, darlin'."

"Yup, Corbin and Bliss' faces were hilarious. They were not happy." Seth added.

"Anything for my boys! Nikki always comes through!" She beamed.

"Ain't that the truth?" Roman agreed.

"Now... I wanna get out of here! Let's go!" The short firecracker demanded, anxious to leave the hospital.

The four WWE Superstars were soon out of the medical facility and headed to the rental SUV The Shield had arrived in. Nikki was on Roman's back like usual, and laughing like a mad woman.

"Reunited once again! Now Nikki gets to play! Play, play, play, play!" She yelled.

"Whoa, there. You're still injured. The doctor said to avoid any strenuos activity for at least a month. Seriously, you need to chill with the, "playing", for now. It's for your own good." Seth told her.

"Awww, what?! But I wanna play on Monday! I want revenge!"

"And you'll get it eventually, but Seth's right, sweetheart. You don't want to get even more injured, do you?" Roman asked, siding with Rollins.

"I don't care! Deanie, come on. I can play, right?"

"No, Nik. Like Seth said, not for another month. You can still come with us to the ring, but that's the most you're doing. It's for your own good. You understand, right?" Dean asked.

Nikki pouted.

"Hmmmm. Fine. I won't play. No fair."

They all entered the SUV. Roman placed Nikki into the backseat, and then went to the front to get in the driver's seat. Seth sat in the passenger seat, and Dean sat in the back with his playmate. She grabbed his arm and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Deanie...Why... why did that happen? Why did she hurt me?" She asked while looking up at him with those big eyes of hers.

The tension in the vehicle picked up.

"I'll... I'll explain it later. It needs to be just us alone together." He said.

"Okay... I love you."

Dean sighed.

"I love you too Nikki."

Roman pulled out of the parking spot, and drove out of the parking lot. Then, they were out on the road together, heading to the next town. In Dean's mind, all he could think was, "You see what you did, Alexa? You fucked my life up."

 **AN: Where has Nikki been on television lately? It's like she showed up for 2 weeks, and then dissappeared. That's bullshit! I don't wanna jinx anything, but I got a bad feeling about what they're gonna do with her on the main roster. They already fucked up EC3 in record time. Jesus, man.**


	18. Old Friends, Sort Of

**_Following_** _ **Week, Raw, New Orleans, 8:04 AM...**_

"Slow and steady, baby girl. You have to be careful okay? No running around and no hide and seek. Keep it cool. Just stay backstage." Roman told his little crazed companion.

"Okay, Papa Roman." Nikki responded.

The Shield, along with Nikki, had arrived to the arena about 20 minutes earlier. Right now they were standing in the hallway talking. When they got there, they were all informed on what they were doing tonight. Seth was going one on one with Chad Gable, Roman was facing Elias, and Dean was in a Fatal Four Way along with Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, and Finn Balor. When Nikki heard about that last match, she became a little concerned.

"Don't hurt Finn too much, Deanie. Please? He's my friend." Nikki asked of the Lunatic Fringe.

Dean decided to mess with her a little.

"So you're only worried about Finn, huh? What about me? You don't care if I get kicked in the head by Sami or McIntyre? Or if I get stomped on by Balor? Damn, Nik. That cuts deep. I can't believe it." He told her, feigning a hurt look.

"No, no, no! I do care! I don't want you to get hurt either! If you get hurt then who's gonna play with me? Who's gonna play with Nikki?" She blurted out, clearly concerned that she had hurt his feelings.

Ambrose laughed.

"You always fall for this. Nikki, I'm messing with you. I know you care."

In response, the Psychotic Scot cutely pouted.

"Hmmph. I hate when you do that."

He patted her on the head.

"I know, that's why I do it."

Since they were all scheduled for action tonight, none of them were gonna be able to look after Cross, and there was no way they were gonna let her come to the ring with them. No, like Roman said, she would have to stay backstage. The question was, with who?

"We gotta find someone that'll watch you, cause I know you don't wanna spend the whole night stuck in the locker room, right?"

She shook her head no, confirming his assumption.

"I don't know who though." Dean admitted.

"Yeah, normally it's Finn who takes care of her whenever we're too busy." Seth added.

"Maybe Bayley?" Roman asked.

"Nah, she's fighting Ruby Riott tonight." Dean said, shutting down that idea.

"Damn, I'm out of ideas." Seth said.

"Same here." Roman piggybacked.

While The Shield were busy brainstorming, Nikki wasn't really paying attention to anything in particular. Just looking around, sort of like a kid in the middle of a class they didn't care about. She kept doing that, until something caught her eye. Or someone, to be more specific. She grinned, and made her way over to the person, unbeknownst to Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose. They were too immersed into their conversation to notice Cross wander away. She came closer and closer until she was looking directly into the back of a black leather vest with gothic images on it.

"Hehehehehe, hi there. Long time no see." She said to the man.

The ominous looking individual took a deep breath in an almost exasperated fashion before turning around to face the Psychotic Scot.

"What do you want, Cross?" He asked, slightly annoyed.

The little ball of chaos continued her giggling at his response.

"Nikki just wanted to say hello to an old friend. Hi, Aleister!"

Yes, the man she was speaking to was fellow NXT Alumnus, Aleister Black. The history between the two of them was well-documented. Nikki was the one who revealed to him that Johnny Gargano was the one behind the attack back in his NXT days that caused him to be stripped of the title due to injury. Although, he would've preferred if she hadn't spent months messing around and just told him it was Johnny who did it. The constant sound of Nikki repeating, "I Know, I Know, I Know", over and over again rang throughout Full Sail every week, and it wasn't until Aleister confronted her himself that she let him know what she knew. So yes, he was thankful for her information, but at the same time, he kinda hoped he never crossed paths with her again. (Heh. Crossed Paths. Get it? Cause it's like her last name?)

"Okay, hi. Now, go away." Black responded, not in the mood.

Nikki pouted.

"Why ya bein' so mean to Nikki? Nikki helped you. We're friends." She stated.

Aleister facepalmed.

"Yes, yes you did. And, you know what, I appreciate it. But, that's as far as this relationship goes. Now again, go away."

At this point, back with The Shield, they were still completely unaware that Nikki had walked away.

"Damn, what about Slater? He's got a bunch of kids he takes care of." Seth suggested.

"Man... No offense to Heath, but I don't trust him to keep Nikki under control. He's not exactly the strongest guy on the roster." Roman said.

"You could say that again... Hold on, where's Nikki?" Dean asked confused.

Seth and Roman's eyes bugged out, and they both spun around in circles, trying to locate their little insane friend.

"Oh my God, we lost her! We friggin' lost her!" Seth panicked.

Roman's mind went back to the day he and Finn spent all night looking for her, and he he groaned. He really didn't wanna go through that again.

"Nikki! Damn it! Nikki, where'd ya go?!" Dean yelled out.

Back with Aleister and the girl they were looking for, the Holland native heard them call out for her, and groaned.

"Oh for god's sake, she's right here!" He yelled back.

The Shield turned to the direction of where the voice came from, only to realize she wasn't even that far away. Like, maybe 10 feet away. Nikki waved at them.

"Yeah, I'm right here! With my old NXT friend!" She yelled, much to Black's dismay.

Feeling kind of dumb for freaking out about "losing", Nikki, they boys made their way toward the two.

"Oh yeah, you two did interact a lot down there." Dean said, as he embraced Nikki, who decided to wrap her arms around him and shove her face into his torso.

"Yeah, we did. And I don't want to continue that." Aleister stated.

Seeing that Black didn't want to be bothered, Roman suggested that they just leave.

"Come on, let's get outta here." The big Samoan said.

However, Cross had other plans.

"No! I know who I want to watch me!"

And then, she pointed at Aleister. Dude... The look on his face said it all. He wanted noooo part of that.

"Watch you? The hell do you mean watch you?" He asked, almost disgusted.

Seth decided to take the diplomatic route.

"Yeah um... Nikki's hurt, and we all have matches tonight. We don't wanna just leave her in our locker room all night, so we need someone to look after her."

"Wait, why can't she just come out to the ring with you?" Black pointed out.

"Because man, we don't wanna take any chances with her. We need someone to protect her." Roman answered.

"She's not a damn child!"

"Yeah... But it's Nikki." Dean said, gesturing toward her.

Aleister looked down at the girl, who had her trademark insane, wide eyed grin plastered on her face.

"Come on, bro. Just do us this one solid." Ambrose requested.

"Yeah, please?!" Cross piggybacked.

Black folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, whatever. But I'm only doing this tonight, and tonight only."

Nikki was so happy you would've thought she had just won the damn lottery. Although, knowing her, she'd probably burn all the money for fun.

"YAAAAY!" She yelled out.

"Thanks a lot, dude. We owe you big time." Dean said to him.

"I know that already. You don't have to tell me that." Aleister said annoyed.

"Well... I guess I'll see you at the end of the show, Nik."

"Bye, Deanie! Bye, Uncle Seth! Bye, Papa Roman!" She said.

The three of them left, and now Aleister and Nikki were alone.

"So! What are we gonna do?" Nikki asked eagerly.

" _I'm_ gonna go train. _You're_ gonna sit and watch me. Got it?"

Cross blankly stared at him for a few seconds before smiling again, and nodding frantically.

"Nikki hears you loud and clear."

Aleister shook his head and walked in the other direction, with Nikki gladly following him.

 **AN: WrestleMania Boyz! It's the day! First off, I wanna say, NXT Takeover? That shit was amazing! I can't decide if WALTER vs Pete Dunne was my favorite match from that show, or if it was Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole. There was no bad match on it, regardless. This pre show card has been trash so far, besides the Cruiserweight Title match. I'm posting this right after the Women's Battle Royal by the way. Anyway, enjoy the show guys. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See ya later peeps.**


	19. Please Don't

_**Next Week, Raw, New Jersey, Prudential Center...**_

Yeah... Aleister wasn't kidding when he said he was only looking after Nikki for one night. Over the course of the previous week, the boys in The Shield would have to ask different members of the Raw roster to take the role of Cross Babysitter. Luckily, people close to her like Finn and Bayley were free during the house shows where they weren't booked. But now, it was Monday Night again. And this episode was going to be a special one. It was the return of the WWE Draft. (I prefer that over the Shakeup, sorry.)

Nikki was extremely troubled by the prospect of one or all of her boys being shipped away to SmackDown. On the entire ride to the arena, her and Dean were together in the back again, and she literally wouldn't let go of the dude for anything. When they exited the SUV, she grabbed the sleeve on his leather jacket while walking. As they were all getting ready in the locker room, Dean started notice her uneasy demeanor and decided to try and find out what was wrong.

"Yo, Nik. What's the matter?" He asked.

"I... I don't want you to leave me." She mumbles.

"Huh? Darlin, you gotta speak up."

"I said I don't want you guys to leave me! It's Draft night, and anything could happen! What- What if Roman gets drafted to SmackDown? Or- or what if Seth gets drafted to SmackDown? What if YOU get drafted to SmackDown?! What if I get drafted to SmackDown? Or... AAAAHHHH! What if all three of you get drafted to SmackDown?! No, no, no, no, no!" Nikki freaked out.

"Baby girl! Chill, alright?" Roman told her, trying to calm her down.

"Seriously, Nikki. We'll be fine. The chances of any of us getting drafted aren't even that high anyway." Seth assured her.

She was still skeptical however.

"How do you know, Uncle Seth?"

"Well, just going off history, really big names rarely get drafted to the opposite brand. And, even if they do, they usually end up still on the same brand somehow by the end of the night. Remember what happened with Cena a few years ago? He was drafted to SmackDown... and then drafted back to Raw an hour later." (I was so disappointed when that happened.)

Nikki seemed sort of put as ease with that explanation.

"...Okay, if you say so. I'm still not lettin' go of Deanie, though." She said as she grabbed back onto him.

Dean chuckled at the act.

"Why?" He asked.

"Cause you're my Deanie! I like holding you." The little ball of chaos happily stated.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss was still salty as all hell over what had taken place a few weeks ago. She thought she'd gotten one over on Nikki with the Renee stuff, but Renee hadn't shown back up since the attack. Plus, Nikki was already back being a nuisance with The Shield, despite Dean being suspended by Corbin. That didn't sit well with the self proclaimed Goddess at all. Right now she was sitting in her personal locker room, having her makeup applied for her while she out loud, vented about her problems with the Scot.

"Stupid little freak. She thinks she's just gonna get away with what she's done to me, and live happily ever after in this dumb fairytale fantasy of hers. "Oh, these people really like me. Oh, my boys will always be by my side." She mocked Cross aloud.

As she bitterly made fun of her raven haired adversary, an idea began to sprout based off of the last thing she said. An evil smirk formed on her devilish little face.

"The boys will always be by my side, huh? We'll just see about that."

 ** _2 Hours Later..._**

Over the course of the night so far, Aleister Black had faced Mustafa Ali of SmackDown in an epic match that resulted in Aleister narrowly picking up the victory. That in turn, ended up causing Jeff Hardy to be drafted to Raw. Also, Lio Rush went one on one with Rey Mysterio in a high flying encounter. Rey won for the blue brand, which sent The Revival over to SmackDown. Now, it was time for Mr. Monday Night Rollins to defend his home turf. He was scheduled to fight in the main event with the relentless, Buddy Murphy. He came out to a thunderous ovation, the fans screaming the usual, "Burn It Down!" Dean and Roman were watching backstage on a monitor, along with Nikki, who yelled the catchphrase as well.

"Whoohoo! Let's go, Uncle Seth!" She happily cheered in support of the Architect.

As Seth stood in the ring, he stretched and ran the ropes, getting in some last minute warmups before he faced Murphy. However, he stopped in his tracks, when instead of the music of the Juggernaut, Alexa Bliss's music hit. She sauntered out with a mic in her hand, that same smirk from before on her face. Backstage, Nikki growled at the screen. In the ring, Seth was visibly confused.

"Hi there, Rollins. I can tell by that look on your face that you're surprised to see me. Pleasantly surprised, I'm sure. Well, let me just say what I need to say and then I'll be on my way. Now, no hard feelings Seth, but I've got a bone to pick with you. And it's not because of anything you or anyone else in The Shield did. Not even Ambrose. It's all because of that... That little pain in my ass you insist on dragging with you everywhere you go. And two weeks ago, she decided it would be a good idea to orchestrate an attack on not only me, but our esteemed GM, Mr. Baron Corbin as well."

The crowd cheered and she snarled at them.

"Oh, shut up you bunch of braindead morons. Anyway, because of that, I'd like to inform you that Mr. Corbin has decided that as punishment for what happened, you will not be facing Buddy Murphy tonight. Instead, you will compete in a 1 on 3 handicap match."

Seth was understandably upset, as were the people in the audience who voiced their disapproval through booing.

"And here's a little something that yours truly came up with. Seth, if you lose this match... Nikki Cross will be automatically drafted to SmackDown."

Even more boos rained down upon the self proclaimed goddess after that announcement. Seth kicked the bottom rope in frustration, and in the back, Dean and Roman were absolutely furious. Nikki on the other hand, was absolutely terrified. She firmly grabbed onto Dean's hand in fear, tears threatening to come. To make matters worse, Alexa wasn't even finished.

"Oh yeah, and two things before I forget. If your buddies in The Shield decide to come out here during the match, you're disqualified... And these are your opponents."

All of a sudden, the lights in the arena turned off, and the sounds of a helicopter and someone talking over a walkie talkie could be heard. Then came the sound of a sinister laugh, and everyone knew who it was: The music of SAnitY blared through the speakers, and out came Young, Dain, and Wolfe. Nikki gasped in shock like she'd just seen a ghost from her past. On the way to the ring, Eric Young yelled out, "We're gettin' OUR Nikki back!"

Seth shook his head in disbelief before putting his fists up and getting ready to try and survive this. All three members of SAnitY surrounded the ring. With nowhere to go, Seth figured the best thing he to do was try and take out the biggest threat first, so he dove out of the ring onto Killian Dain, and started punching him as hard as he could. Unfortunately, the numbers game caught up with him quickly. Young and Wolfe swarmed him like some angry hornets and started pounding on him. The leader of the deranged group grabbed Seth and threw him face first into the ring post. After they were done, they threw him in the ring.

Alexander Wolfe climbed inside the squared circle, and the ref reluctantly called for the timekeeper to officially start the match. Wolfe continued the assault, viciously stomping on poor Seth. Backstage, Dean and Roman watched on, extremely pissed that they couldn't do anything about this. Cross was an emotional wreck at the moment. She couldn't stand watching her former partners in chaos, beat on a member of her new family. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer, as they fell down her little cheeks. The Scot fell to her knees while still watching the carnage.

"No, Uncle Seth. Why?" She sadly questioned.

"Don't give up hope, baby girl. Seth'll come through." Roman tried to comfort her, as well as himself kind of.

"Yeah, he has to. He has to pull this one out. For us." Dean said while staring intently at the screen.

As Ambrose said that, Rollins must've heard him, because he started to fight back. He reversed a suplex attempt from Wolfe into an Inverted DDT. Then, he delivered forearms to both Dain and Young, who were standing on the apron. The crowd started to get behind him as well. He hit Wolfe with a Sling Blade, and was now pumped full of adrenaline. He climbed to the top rope and hit the German superstar with a Frog Splash. However, it wasn't enough, and Wolfe kicked out at two. Then, he was blindsided by Eric Young and Killian Dain from behind. Dain ran the ropes and hit Seth with a rib-crushing Standing Splash.

At this point, Nikki couldn't bare to watch this anymore. Since she wasn't technically part of The Shield, against pleading from both Roman and Dean, she made her way out to the ring. She came as fast as she could, but she was still in pain from her injuries, so moving quickly was a challenge. But, she didn't care about her pain. She needed to stop this before her companion was beaten to the point of being seriously injured. The crowd noticed her gingerly walk out with with tears in her eyes, and the sight of an obviously emotionally distressed Nikki made them feel for her in a real way.

Children were crying with her, not wanting to see her like this. Hell, some adults were shedding tears as well. The WWE fans had grown a connection to the off-kilter female over the past year. Her crazed antics and playful demeanor endeared herself to them. So, to see her like this, physically and emotionally in an immense amount of pain? That tugged on the heart strings a little too much. In the ring, SAnitY had this match well in hand. Eric had just hit Seth with a wicked Wheelbarrow Neckbreaker. (That move is sick.) He tagged in Dain and ordered him to finish it. He picked Rollins up to hit him with the Ulster Plantation, (It's an Electric Chair Driver, for those who aren't familiar with Dain's move-set. I don't blame you, they fucked over SAnitY so badly.), but right when he was about to hit the move, he caught sight of Nikki outside the ring. The Beast of Belfast dropped his victim and walked over to his former stablemate. Still in the ring, he looked down at her, while she looked up at him with those big brown, doe like eyes of hers, pleading with him to stop.

"Killian... please. Please, stop hurting him."

The usually remorseless Dain always had a soft spot for Nikki. Out of the three men in the group, she always felt that he cared the most for her. Young was always focused on the next plan of action and Wolfe was too far gone off the deep end to really care about anything except causing mayhem. Dain had the most human feeling to her, which was being displayed in this very moment.

"Please, Killian. Don't do this." She practically begged.

That cut through the big man's emotional defenses, and he hesitated to go back and finish the job. Wolfe and Young both weren't happy with this behavior. They entered the ring and Young forcefully turned Dain around by the arm. Then, he started barking at him.

"What are you doing, Dain?! I told you to finish it! Are you stupid?! Huh?!"

Young and Wolfe both started to push the Massive Irishman, and suffice to say, he didn't take too kindly to that. One more push from Wolfe, and Killian snapped. He hit the German with a giant clothesline, before delivering blow after blow to the leader of SAnitY, Eric Young until he was in the corner seated. Then, Dain ran to the other side of the ring, before coming back at full speed to deliver a crushing hip attack. The crowd applauded all of this. He threw Wolfe outta the ring completely before dragging Young to their tag corner. Dain placed him on the apron, took his hand, and used it to forcefully tag himself out. Eric was now the legal man, and Killian was done. He exited the ring, and as he walked to the back, he crossed paths with Nikki. He gave her a pat on the head and a wink, and then went on his merry way.

This whole fiasco gave Seth the opening he needed. He struggled to his feet and saw Young was in perfect position. He hit him with a Curb Stomp, and the outcome was academic. One, Two, Three, and it was over. The crowd went insane. Grown men were hugging each other and crying tears of joy. Backstage, Alexa was throwing a hissy fit, tossing chairs around and everything. Her plans to screw over Nikki had once again backfired. You already know Nikki was overjoyed. She carefully slid under the bottom rope and crawled over to Seth's prone body. She peppered his face with kisses while saying "Thank you" over and over again. Although he was in a lot of pain, he still managed to crack a smile. Dean and Roman came down to the ring, happy as well. Their Nikki was staying right where she belonged, with them. Cross was so ecstatic about this whole situation, she called for a microphone. She then stood in the middle of the ring, simply yelled one thing...

"NIKKI IS HERE TO STAY...FOREVER!"

Her music hit, and the last image before Raw went off the air for the night, was the big, crazed smile of hers that we've all come to know and love.

 **AN: So uh... Hi. Contrary to what you might've thought, no, I haven't completely abandoned this story. I just... really had a hard time thinking of what I wanted to do next. Please don't kill me. Honestly, I'm really sorry. I'll try not to go that long without updating this thing again. If you wanna yell at me or tell me what you thought of this chapter, leave a review. Peace. Again, I'm sorry.**


	20. Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared

_**Wednesday** , _**_Hotel Room, 9:17 P.M..._**

"Nikki... What the hell are you doing?" Rollins asked confused.

The Shield and the Scottish Psycho had just arrived at their hotel for the night after finishing up at a house show tonight in Alabama. It was an easy-ish performance for them. Ambrose and Rollins faced Lio Rush and Bobby Lashley in a tag match, Roman squared off with Samoa Joe, and Nikki was put in a tag match of her own, partnering with Bayley to fight The IIconics. All four of them were successful in their respective matches. Now it was time to for them to just unwind and get some rest before hitting the road tomorrow morning, right? No. The answer is no. You should've known that already since you've read this damn thing from the beginning. Anyway, Nikki was doing something odd, like normal. This time, she was standing in front of Seth and staring into his soul. It was kind of unsettling for the Architect.

"Hmmm." She grunted.

Meanwhile, Dean and Roman were amused by what was happening. They wanted to see where it was going.

"Dude, seriously. Why are you looking at me like that?"

A few more seconds of awkward silence passed before Nikki actually responded. You know with words this time. Instead of grunting.

"I saw you talking to Becky Lynch backstage tonight." She told him while folding her arms.

"Uhh... Okay? And? Me and her are friends."

"You hugged her for a really long time... Too long."

Seth really didn't understand where she was going with this.

"Again, and? I hug you like everyday. I hug Dean and Roman a lot. Hugging is what friends do. What's the problem?"

Nikki pouted.

"Yeah, you hug me... But not like you hugged her. You hugged her a lot more lovingly."

Ambrose raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, is that so, Nik? How long did you see them hug for?" He asked, clearly egging her on.

"For like, like a whole minute."

Dean gasped, acting surprised.

"A whole minute?! Seth Tyler Rollins, what do you have to say for yourself?" He questioned like a stereotypical British mother from the 1800s. All the while, Roman was silently standing beside him with a smirk on his face.

"Shove it, Ambrose. Look, Nikki. I don't understand what your problem is. Again, I hug you all the time. Woman, sometimes I literally carry you to bed and kiss you on the cheek goodnight. Me and you aren't even a couple I do that for you, so if I'm only hugging Becky, you should be able to tell that we're definitely just friends." He tried to explain to her.

However, Cross wasn't having it. She just pouted even harder and turned her back to him. At this point, Reigns could see that it was time to break his silence and go into Papa Roman mode. He walked up to the petite Scot and got down on one knee. He lifted her chin up with his fingers and made her look into his eyes.

"Baby girl. Come on, we don't like to see you unhappy like this. Now, I can tell this is about more than just Seth hugging Becky. So what is it? We're more than willing to listen to your problems." He reassured her.

Dean interrupted.

"Actually, dude? I'm really tired and sore right now, and I was kinda gonna go to sleep so-"

Seth and Roman cut him off together.

"Ambrose, shut the hell up!"

The mouthpiece of The Shield rolled his eyes, and Roman turned his attention back to Nikki.

"Go on, Nikki. What's on your mind?"

The little ball of chaos finally fixed her face and dropped her arms from across her chest, relenting on her stubborn attitude. She looked a little remorseful, like she was really sorry for the way she had acted.

"O- Okay, Papa Roman."

She turned back to Seth with her head down in shame.

"I'm... I'm sorry for being difficult just now. Just... seeing you hugging Becky made me feel... jealous and- and... scared."

Now, the boys could see the jealous part from a mile away, so that wasn't a surprise to them. What surprised them was her use of the word scared. Well, it surprised everyone except... Dean.

"Wait, what? Scared? Why does the sight of that scare you?" Seth asked, genuinely concerned.

Dean was now completely serious, already being able to see the reason.

"It's... It's because of what happened with Renee, isn't it?"

Nikki faced her best friend and melancholically nodded, confirming his hypothesis. The atmosphere was extremely awkward now. No one really knew what to say, or if it was a good idea to say anything at all. Finally, Dean broke the silence.

"You know what? Nikki, come with me. I've been putting this off for a while, but now we really need to have a discussion about what happened. Seth, Roman, you guys might wanna turn in for the night."

They both nodded, and then retired to their respective rooms for the night. Dean softly grabbed the Psychotic Scot's hand, and led her to his room. He sat on the edge of the bed, and patted the space next to him, inviting her to sit there. She did exactly that, and then laid her little head on his shoulder.

She sighed.

"Deanie, did I make Seth mad at me again?"

"No, princess. You didn't make him mad. He understands. Next time though, just tell us what's wrong instead of hiding the problem under some other non-issue. Okay?"

She nodded.

"Now... First off, I'm going to repeat something. You are not responsible for what Renee did. It was not your fault in the slightest. So, talk to me. What exactly reminded you of that when you saw Seth and Becky hugging?"

"Well... When I saw them, I was scared they were together. Like boyfriend and girlfriend together. The reason Renee beat me up and injured me, was because she was jealous of how nice and caring you are to me all the time. Now, if Seth gets a girlfriend, she'll get jealous and angry too. Then Seth won't be able to hang out with me anymore. I don't... I don't wanna ruin another relationship."

Dean held her close to him. He chuckled softly.

"Nik, what did I just say like 2 minutes ago? You didn't ruin anything. What, do you not believe me?"

She looked up at him those big brown eyes of hers.

"I... I don't know."

"Well, let me convince I'm telling the truth then. Yes, Renee was jealous. That much is true. However, she wouldn't have done what she did, if it wasn't for Alexa Bliss getting into her ear. Alexa's the key to all of this bullshit. Think about it, does Roman not do the same things Seth does for you?"

"Y- Yeah." Nikki answered timidly.

"He does. And Roman's friggin married! He has a wife and like two children. I don't remember how many exactly, but that's beside the point. The point is, Roman's wife understands the dynamic between the three of us and you. You're like our crazy, fun little sister." He told her while ruffling her hair.

Nikki giggled and blushed at his action, and Ambrose continued speaking.

"So, when I tell you it wasn't your fault, I'm not just saying that to make you feel better. I'm being 100% sincere. Do you believe me, Nik?"

She nodded again and nuzzled her face into his chest. He leaned in and gave her a peck on the forehead, once again ruffling her hair.

"We're gonna be alright, darlin'. We're gonna be alright."

The Psychotic Scot then let out a cute little yawn.

"Aw, Nik. Gettin' sleepy?"

"Mmhmm." She responded tiredly.

"Okay, give me your feet so I can take your boots off for you. Then lay down so I can tuck you in.

Cross did as she was told, and soon, she was all comfy in bed. Dean also removed his footwear, as well as his shirt. He then climbed into the bed with her. Immediately, she clung onto to him and buried her head into his neck. The two unhinged superstars then drifted off to sleep together, both with smiles on their faces.

 **AN: Funny how in my story, Nikki and Alexa are enemies, but in real life they're kayfabe friends on television. Weird how life works out. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter. You're the best. Peace.**


	21. Young Patterson

_**A Month Later, Monday, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Hotel, 7:34 A.M...**_

Well, it happened. The night before, at Elimination Chamber, Seth Rollins had achieved what he'd been trying to for the last few months. He was the victor in a Triple Threat Match to determine who would go on to fight for the IC Title at WrestleMania. Rollins defeated two fierce competitors in the forms of Samoa Joe and Big E of The New Day. He undoubtedly was the underdog in this match, yet he still managed to emerge victorious, pinning Big E in the process. After the match, as Rollins was celebrating, Joe, angry that he came up short, started to attack the champion. He was about to put him to sleep in the Coquina Clutch, when Big E came in for the save, not standing for it. He cleared Samoa Joe from the ring, and then respectfully handed the title Seth himself.

"Congratulations... Captain." Big E said, referring back to the days when New Day would call him that.

Seth grabbed his ribs and chuckled. The two men shook hands, then E left the ring to give the new champion the spotlight he deserved. As he posed with the title on the middle turnbuckle, he could see a figure from the corner of his eye at the top of the ramp.

"Nikki! Nikki! Nikki!" The crowd chanted, happy to see the little ball of chaos.

She was certainly happy. Unsettlingly happy, if Seth said so himself. She was clapping while jumping up and down like a deranged cheerleader. Seeing her, Rollins knew what had to be done. He got down from the ropes, placed the championship on the canvas, and outstretched his arms. This was to allow Nikki to do what Nikki did best. And that's lovingly tackle the shit out of the people she cared about. As soon as she saw him do this, she ran down the aisle at full speed, and did just that. She took him to the ground, hugging him tightly and peppering his face with little kisses.

"You did it! You really did it, Uncle Seth! Yaaaay!" She exclaimed.

Yeah, it kinda hurt, but Seth was happy, Nikki was happy, and the fans were happy. A little pain wasn't gonna ruin the moment. She eventually got off of him, and he lifted himself off of the floor. The two of them left the ring together. Seth draped the title over his shoulder and carried Cross bridal style to the back. She was giggling her little heart out all the way there.

Fast forward to the present, and Rollins was absolutely exhausted. He was tired, sore, and not looking forward to getting out of bed. Unfortunately for him, he shared a hotel room with a human alarm clock. An extremely energetic, human alarm clock that he was in charge of for the day.

"Uncle Seth! Time to wake up! Come on, we gotta start the day!" Nikki yelled as she jumped onto him once again.

Seth groaned and looked at his phone which was next to him on the nightstand.

"Uhhh... Nikki, come on man. It's not even 8 o'clock yet. We don't have to leave until noon. Lemme sleep some more."

Nikki persisted however.

"But... but me and Deanie always wake up early and go to the lobby to say good morning to our friends on the roster that also wake up early."

Rollins responded to that by taking his pillow and putting it over his face.

"Well, Seth doesn't wanna do that much today, because Seth is really tired." He muffled out, determined to stay in bed and rest more.

This caused the Psychotic Scot to pout.

"That's not fair." She complained.

The new champion removed the pillow from his face to look at his little companion. He saw her and immediately felt guilty for making her upset again, only a few hours after seeing her so excited due to his victory. He sighed and sat up.

"Dude, don't be like that. Look, I'm honestly beat right now, and I really need a little more time to recover. Come here."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Nikki was still pouting.

"I know Dean and Roman tend to be a little... nicer, I guess, than me. I'm a little bit of a hardass and I'm sorry. But this isn't me being mean or anything. Uncle Seth went through a lot last night. I may have won, but I took a beating. Could've been worse if Big E didn't step in."

Hearing that made Nikki stop the pouting, and embrace Seth back, gripping him tightly.

"Don't remind me of that. Samoa Joe's a big jerk." She with disdain.

Seth chuckled.

"Yeah. He's not a nice guy. But, Joe didn't end up becoming champion, did he?"

"Nope. You did. Cause you're the best."

Rollins ruffled her hair, which caused the crazed girl from Glasgow to giggle. He'd been successful in his attempt at changing Nikki's mood. Now, she was back to her normal happy self. She was upset no longer.

"Why, thank you, Miss Cross. You still mad at me?"

"I can't stay mad at you. Not at you, not at any of my boys. You're all too good to me. So, you're off the hook this time, mister... if you let me snuggle with you while you go back to sleep."

Seth smirked.

"That's all I gotta do? Well, in that case, get under here."

Nikki happily squealed a little before getting under the covers herself. The new IC Champion laid back and allowed her to grip onto him once again.

"You may be kinda mean sometimes, but I know you try to make me happy however you can. But next time I'm only with you for the day, can we please start the day early?"

"Even though I really don't want to... fine. Next time we'll go and say hi to everyone."

She looked at him with her puppy dog eyes.

"You promise?"

"Yes, Nikki. I promise. Now... let's get a little more rest in, huh?"

Cross snuggled in against him with a smile on her face and closed her eyes. Meanwhile, Seth had one thing on his mind before drifted back to dreamville.

"Thank God I wore sweatpants to bed this time. That could've gotten awkward real quick."

 **AN: Quick little Seth/Nikki chapter. I did kinda rush, admittedly. Not my best work, but I just wanted to pump out another update for you guys. I feel horrible every time a bunch of weeks go by without me posting any new stuff. Big thanks to all of you for showing my dumb ideas love consistently with your reviews, favorites and follows. Shout out in particular to the Guest, ClassicPurpleRoses, WhiteAsukaLover, The Man They Call The Truth, and Dyyaboi. Dude, Dyyaboi, thanks for the heartfelt comments on that last chapter. I'm glad that my stupid ass is able to make you feel somewhat better. I hope you make that depression your bitch, man. I really do. Anyway, my bad for the long note. Just felt like I had to thank you guys. Peace, see you in the next chapter. You're the best.**


	22. Act Like A Nikki

_**Monday, Uniondale, NY, Backstage, 8:03 P.M...**_

Cameras followed Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Nikki Cross as they entered the arena. Conspicuous by his absence was Roman Reigns, who was currently on small vacation with his family. Dean and Seth were talking about Seth's championship win a week prior, while Nikki comfortably leaned her face onto Ambrose's back as he carried her.

"You do realize I'm coming after that title, right?" Dean told his friend.

"Yeah, you've said that everyday for the past week. I get it, we're competitors. We fight people for a living. I have a title, and you want it. I understand how competition works, Dean. You don't have to keep saying that over and over again." Seth responded.

"I'm just making sure there's no hard feelings."

Nikki, hearing this conversation, pouted, obviously not okay with the possibility of two of her boys scrapping. She gripped Dean tighter and groaned.

"Nik? What's wrong? You sick or somethin'?" Ambrose asked.

"I don't want you and Uncle Seth to fight each other. Why can't you go for the Tag Team Titles with Papa Roman? Or challenge Drew McIntryre for the Universal Championship?" She suggested.

"Because, Roman's already doing that, and I don't want to be a tag champion right now. Besides, I like being Intercontinental Champion. I mean, look how cool that belt looks."

"Yeah... I guess it looks pretty cool. But still! You'll both get hurt."

"Nikki, we're WWE Superstars. Getting hurt is in the job description. And so is winning championships." Seth told her.

"He's 100% right, kid. What about you? You've never thought about winning some gold of your own? Raw Women's Champion, Nikki Cross has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?" Dean asked.

The little ball of chaos thought about it for a moment.

"Would... would you it make you guys happy if I won a championship?" She asked shyly.

"Hell yeah it would. Me and you could come out to the ring together with our belts after I beat Seth."

Seth rolled his eyes.

"In your dreams, Ambrose. I plan on keeping this baby for a long time."

"I don't care how long you plan on keeping it. You just better still have it when I earn a title shot. But yeah, Nik. You with a title would be awesome."

Cross now had a cute but determined look on her face.

"Then I will! Nikki's gonna be a champion to make her boys proud! YAAAAAA!"

She jumped off of the back of Dean, and ran away. Seth was immediately concerned at this.

"Uh... Dean? Should we go after her?"

"Eh, she'll be fine. We should give her some freedom for once. She's a big girl." He said nonchalantly.

"Okay, if you say so. Hopefully she doesn't get into too much trouble."

"I know she wouldn't do anything I wouldn't do."

Seth facepalmed.

"Oh God help us all."

Meanwhile, Nikki was still running, her target destination being the office of one Baron Corbin. Once she got there, she knocked on the door hard. Like, really hard. Over and over again. When Corbin answered the door, he was expecting someone like Braun or Bobby Lashley to be standing outside. So, imagine his surprise when he looked and saw little Nikki Cross, frothing at the mouth with her eyes all bugged out, breathing heavily as well. The shock quickly turned into annoyance for the GM.

"Oh no not you again. What do you want, ya little psycho?" He asked with a frown on his face.

"Corbin! I want a title shot! How do I get one?! Tell me, tell me now!" She barked.

"A title shot? Uh, how about no. What makes you think you deserve one anyway? All you've done for the last year and a half is cause problems and follow The Shield everywhere. You've had maybe 10 matches in that time. A title shot, get outta here with that."

Normally, Nikki would've tried to kill Corbin for insulting her like that, but for once she actually thought before she acted and realized that he actually had a point. As far as the championship picture was concerned, Cross was nowhere near it. Up until this point, the only thing she wanted to do was be with her boys in The Shield. Hell, she hadn't even competed in a one on one match since she came to the main roster.

"Hmmm... you're right. Well, I wanna earn it! Come on, come on! Let me earn it! Pleaaaase? Please, please, please, please- "

Corbin cut her off.

"Alright, alright! Jesus Christ. You start winning matches consistently and I'll consider it. Tonight you're facing Lacey Evans. Now, will you leave me alone?"

Nikki jumped for joy now that she had a chance to prove that she had the heart of a champion.

"Yes! Yes! Nikki's gonna make Deanie proud! Hehehehehe!"

Baron then rolled his eyes and went back inside his office, slamming the door closed in the process.

* * *

 _ **Gorilla Position, 10:02 P.M...**_

"Well, Nik? This is your first step to winning some gold around here. You ready?" Dean asked his little friend.

"Yup! I can't wait to get out there and show what I can do!" She exclaimed happily.

Ambrose chuckled.

"It's not like people haven't seen you wrestle before. You ran roughshod down in NXT. Everyone knows you can get it done in the ring. You don't have anything to prove."

"Thanks. But, I think I do. Ever since you brought me here to Raw I've had the time of my life. So much fun! I've teamed with you, I've teamed with Bayley, I've teamed with Finn. Now it's time to prove that I can do it on my own to a whole new audience."

Dean shrugged, then patted her head.

"That's a great mindset to have, kid. You sure you don't want me out there with you?"

"No, Deanie. You stay back here. I can do this."

The Lunatic Fringe shrugged his shoulders and then patted her head. Right then, her music hit.

"I think that's your cue, Nik. Knock em' dead."

"I will!"

The Psychotic Scot then ran out to the stage, while Dean smirked and shook his head.

"I feel like a proud parent right now. They grow up so fast." He said aloud.

The pop Cross received when she stepped out was incredible. Everyone was happy to see her, and she was even happier to see the fans. She waved frantically before sprinting down to the ring and doing her normal shtick with the slamming of the jacket onto the canvas. Again, that poor jacket. She just soaked in the adulation and relished in it. Then, out came her opponent, Lacey Evans. Suffice to say, Evans was not a fan of the crazed girl from Glasgow. As she stood at the top of the stage, she grimaced at the sight of her. Nikki still did what she did whenever an opponent approached, and waved at her like she was her friend. Lacey was absolutely disgusted. Either way, Evans came down to the ring, prepared to compete. The bell rang, and the action began.

Collar and elbow tie up to start, and we were off to the races... So, everyone thought. Out of nowhere, a line of male superstars came rushing down the ramp, lead by none other than the WWE 24/7 Champion himself, R-Truth, along with Carmella. The never ending chase after Truth had bled into this scheduled contest. Lacey was outraged, and she showed that, by yelling at all of the guys as they ran around the ring, Truth in their sights. Nikki, on the other hand, was loving every second of it. She jumped up and down while laughing and clapping, obviously entertained by what was happening.

"Get outta here, ya nasties!" The Sassy Southern Belle (God, how I hate that fuckin nickname) yelled.

"I ain't no nasty!" EC3 yelled back at her as he continued chasing Truth with the rest of the regular contenders.

In all of the confusion, Nikki saw that Lacey hadn't been paying attention. So, in a surprisingly savvy move, she rolled up the snooty girl from behind. 1, 2, 3, and it was over. She did it. She won her first actual singles match on the main roster. Nikki climbed the turnbuckle happily celebrated, while Evans threw a fit. At this point, Truth and Carmella had found themselves inside the ring. Lacey, who was beyond livid at losing to Cross, blamed them for her failure. As the superstars were about to swarm Truth, Lacey angrily screamed, "Hey!" Everyone stopped what they were doing, including Nikki, who sat on the top rope to watch what was happening. Lacey angrily motioned for a microphone, and received one.

"You idiots cost me my match! You two, and the rest of these morons outside the ring are nothing but wastes of space! Nothing but pieces of human garbage!"

Carmella uh... She took exception to that. She got all up in Lacey's face and snatched the microphone from her hand.

"Um, excuse me? Who exactly are you callin' garbage? Ya talentless, generic, stuck-in-the-1950s, trashbag, floozy!"

"OOOOOOHHHH!" Truth, Nikki, and the rest of the superstars reacted.

Lacey smirked, turned around slightly, then cocked back for a sucker punch. However, Carmella was quicker, and caught it. She then hit her with a double leg takedown and started raining down rights and lefts upon her. Lacey managed to get back to her feet, but as soon as she did, Carmella dropped her with a Superkick. The crowd, the superstars, Truth, and Nikki all applauded this. R Truth was so excited, that he bent over Lacey's prone body and joined Carmella in taunting her.

"You just got GOT!" He yelled.

In the midst of all of this going down, Nikki realized one thing... the referee was still in the ring... and Truth had his guard down. Something told her to just go for it. So she did. The same way she rolled up Evans, she rolled up Truth from behind. 3 seconds later...

"Here is your winner, and the NEW, 24/7 Champion, Nikki Cross!"

Nikki grabbed the title from around Truth's waist, and ran out of the ring into the crowd. Everyone was so shocked, they just stood where they were. The crowd was goin bananas, and the Psychotic Scot celebrated amongst them.

"I'M A CHAMPION! I DID IT! NIKKI'S A CHAMPION!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

Once the shock wore off, the gravity of the situation washed over the challengers. Especially when Drake Maverick opened his mouth.

"She's the champion! Get her!"

That's when Truth, Maverick, and the rest of the guys started giving chase to Nikki. The smile never left her face as she turned around and ran away to the backstage area. The cameras followed as she made a B Line to the only sanctuary she knew. The Shield Locker Room. She found it, and burst through the door to find the Architect, Seth Rollins.

"Oh hey, Nikki. What's-"

Nikki cut him off.

"No time to talk! I'm 24/7 Champion! Parking lot! Now!"

"Wait, huh?"

Cross grabbed Seth's hand and practically dragged him out of the locker room.

"Nikki, I can't leave! I have a match tonight!"

Just as he said that, the loud sound of various superstars charging toward where they were could be heard. Nikki jumped on his back.

"Seth, we gotta go!"

Rollins sighed.

"Damn it."

Seth then ran full speed out of the arena, carrying Nikki all the way. And all the way, Nikki laughed her little heart out.

 **AN: Dude, the 24/7 segments are one of the high points of the show for me every week. Although, as a boy, watching what happened to Mike Kanellis on Monday hurt my soul. But, I love that Drake Maverick and R Truth are the main people involved. They're both hilarious. Plus, it's nice to see Maverick get some shine. I've been following him since he was Rockstar Spud in TNA. Anyway, I had to incorporate it into this story somehow. It just fits the unpredictable nature of Nikki's character. Hope you guys enjoyed. Peace, see ya in the next chapter. You're the best!**


	23. Long Time No See

_**3 Weeks Later, SmackDown, Rosemont, IL...**_

Welp, last time we checked in on everyone's favorite psychopath, she succeeded in capturing gold. For the first time in her WWE career, Nikki Cross was a champion. The 24/7 Champion to be specific. The best part about the whole situation was, the 24/7 title was the most, well, "Nikki-ish", championship in the business. Wherever the belt went, chaos followed. Whoever had the honor of being the champion, also had the burden of dealing with said chaos at all times. For Cross, however, it wasn't a burden at all. I don't know if you guys noticed... but chaos is kind of like, her main thing. She welcomed all the randomness and dealt with it with a big ole smile on her face.

Nikki managed to keep the green belt all throughout these past few weeks, making her the longest reigning champion in the title's short but active history. 22 days. 22 days of ducking and dodging, and in some cases, facing essentially half of the roster. Raw, SmackDown, NXT, house shows, you name it, she was there for lack of a better term, "defending", her championship. Of course, she had a little help from her boys at times. Mainly Seth, who somehow pretty much became her getaway driver. Keep in mind, he was still Intercontinental Champion. So on top of worrying about retaining his own strap, he was helping Nikki keep hers as well. Dean occasionally stepped in whenever he felt like it to stop some of the male pursuers from taking the championship.

An example of this was on Raw the night before, when Drake Maverick had Nikki cornered in the backstage area. He frantically waved his wanted flyers with Nikki's face on it while yelling, "I've gotcha now!", happily. Cross then started giggling like a mad woman, which is something she did regularly, yet Maverick was confused as to why she chose that moment to do it.

"What are ya laughin' for? I've got you! I'm gonna win the title back, finally!" He proclaimed.

In response, Nikki kept on with her giggling, this time pointing behind Drake, confusing the Englishman even more.

"What? Is there somethin' funny behind... Oh, come on."

The reason for Drake's expression of disappointment was because of what he saw when he turned around. Or more like who he saw when he turned around.

"Deanie! Hi!" Cross happily exclaimed while waving at him.

Dean smirked at Nikki before turning his attention to poor Drake.

"You, uh... You know what's about to happen, right?" Ambrose asked him.

Drake sighed.

"Man, I just wanna consummate my... Oh, forget it. Just get it over with."

The Lunatic Fringe proceeded to punch the general manager of 205 Live directly in the ribs, making him drop his self produced wanted posters, before picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder.

"Nik, come on." He said as he walked away back into the arena.

The crazed girl from Glasgow happily followed the man she adored so much, grinning from ear to ear. Dean found an open crate backstage, and dumped Maverick inside of it. As he was about to shut the lid, Nikki stopped him at the last second.

"Wait, wait! Don't close it yet."

She stood over Drake in the crate and handed him back the flyers he'd dropped back in the parking lot.

"Here ya go, friend." Nikki said sweetly.

Even though he was in pain and once again failed the capture the 24/7 Championship, Drake couldn't help but slightly smile at the act. He reached up accepted the flyers back.

"Th-thanks Nikki." He strained out while coughing.

Cross then skipped away while humming to herself, leaving Ambrose and Maverick alone with each other.

"That girl's a sweetheart." Drake said to Dean.

"She is, ain't she? Alright, see ya around."

He then closed the crate, put his hands in his jacket pockets, and strolled down the hallway. That's just one of the few instances of The Shield getting involved. However, notice that was on Raw. Like I mentioned before, Nikki was all over the place defending her title. As the 24/7 Champion, she was obligated to show up at least on both main roster shows every week. However, since all of The Shield were Raw superstars, they couldn't just show up on SmackDown whenever they wanted. (Because fuck the Wild Card rule. I hate that shit.) So, as she walked around backstage at SmackDown tonight, she was pretty much alone... almost. You see, if you remember, the last time she had any interaction with SmackDown, she was almost unfairly sent there against her will. One man, however, played a big part in preventing that from happening.

"Killian! Oh, Killian! Where are ya, big lug?!" She shouted out loud while walking around backstage with a big smile on her face.

Again, when Nikki was in SAnitY, Killian Dain was the one who cared for her the most. He treated her the best, and was always there for her when she needed help. That's why she took that major bullet back at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn 2 when SAnitY won the Tag Titles. He was a man of few words, but his actions clearly conveyed the love he had for her, and Nikki greatly appreciated it. Basically, Dain made himself responsible for protecting her whenever she came to the blue brand. After a few more seconds of walking, Nikki spotted the big man standing by himself at a vending machine with his back turned.

"There you are!" She happily squealed. She then charged at him, jumping onto his back, essentially forcing him to give her a piggyback ride. Dain didn't really mind it though. He was used to her jumping all over him. It reminded him of the days they used to be together all the time. He slightly smiled thinking about it.

"Hi, Killian! I missed you." Nikki told the long haired beast.

He grunted in response, which Nikki understood as his way of saying he felt the same way. Again, man of few words.

"Thanks for protecting me when I'm over here. You're the bestest big man a girl could ask for!"

Killian again grunted, however this time Nikki could sense a little annoyance in the sound.

"Killy? (Shit, that's a rapper.) What's the matter?" She asked.

"I thought your Shield boys were the best now. At least, that's what you've been saying on TV for the past year and a half." He said in an uncharacteristically melancholy way.

Cross was caught off guard by his sudden change in demeanor and scrambled to think of a response.

"Oh, um... Well, you're still the best too, Killy. You're still my hairy rock." She responded, trying to make him feel better.

"...Nikki, when I saw you pop up on Raw with them all that time ago... That really hurt. Even Wolfe and Young were kind of upset. Why didn't you come back to us?"

Hearing his words, Nikki had realized the emotional distress she'd caused. When she thought about it, she never so much as tried to find her former teammates in SAnitY during the few co-branded Pay Per Views over the past year. Now, trying to force her come back to them wasn't cool at all. But still, she could understand them missing her. She missed them when they got called up to SmackDown but she didn't.

"Dain... I'm- I'm so, so, so sorry. I shouldn't have just run off to Raw and never talked to you guys again. To you especially. Please, please don't be sad. Your little Nikki's here now. Every Tuesday I'll be able to be with you." She apologized profusely.

The 24/7 Champ then hugged as much of him as her tiny arms could handle. She shoved the side of her face into his stomach. He looked down at her for a few seconds wrapping one of his giant arms around her small frame.

"It's fine, little one. You're right, you're here now and that's what matters."

His words made Nikki happy again, and she giggled. Looking up at him, she asked a question.

"So, do you forgive me?"

Killian patted her on the head, which told Nikki that he indeed forgave her.

"Yay! Nikki and Killy are back in business! Well, what do we do now?" Cross asked.

Just as she said that, the sound of superstars running down the hallway looking for her could be heard. Killian grabbed her and sat her on top of the vending machine they were standing by.

"You're gonna sit here. And I'm gonna start hitting people."

"Sounds fun!"

Dain cracked his knuckles and headed toward the commotion while Nikki excitedly swung her legs back and forth in anticipation of what was to come.

"I love being a champion!" She happily exclaimed.

 **AN: So, uh... Hey guys. I'm back kinda. Here's an explanation. I've spent the last 2 months preparing to go away to college. And for the last 3 weeks I've been in college. So in a nutshell, I've had zero time to write anything that didn't have to do with school. Being a freshman all over again is kinda weird. Anyway, the reality is, the frequency of me updating my two stories is not gonna be that good. Please don't be mad. I'll write when I can, I promise. So, until next time, peace. You guys are still the best.**


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